New Year's Day

New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian Calendar as well as the Julian Calendar.

In pre-Christian Rome under the Julian calendar, the day was dedicated to Janus, god of gateways and beginnings, for whom January is also named. As a date in the Gregorian calendar of Christendom, New Year's Day liturgically marked the Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus, which is still observed as such in the Anglican Church and Lutheran Church.

In 567 AD, the Council of Tours formally abolished January 1 as the beginning of the year. At various times and in various places throughout medieval Christian Europe, the new year was celebrated on December 25 in honor of the birth of Jesus; March 1 in the old Roman style; March 25 in honor of Lady Day and the Feast of the Annunciation; and on the movable feast of Easter.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII, in putting together the Gregorian calendar, restored January 1 as New Year's Day. Although most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar almost immediately, it was only gradually adopted among Protestant countries. England, subsequently Britain, and her North American colonies, did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752. Until then, the British Empire still celebrated the new year on March 25.

Literary comment
Numerous Harry Turtledove works feature characters ringing in the New Year, but these scenes rarely include insight into any particular story.

New Year's Day in Ruled Britannia
When the Gregorian calendar was formally imposed on England in 1589, New Year's Day was reassigned from 25 March to 1 January. Thus, 1589 came to be known as the Short Year, having begun on 25 March and ended on 31 December.