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NEW YEAR'S EVE OWES A LOT TO THE ROMANS.
ARROW
HOLIDAYS
10 Facts About New Year’s Eve
BY MARK MANCINI DECEMBER 20, 2019 (UPDATED: DECEMBER 31, 2020)
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Time to swap calendars: This New Year’s Eve more than ever, billions of people are eagerly awaiting a new, and hopefully less difficult, year. Read on for some fascinating facts about the final night of the year and how we celebrate it—whether it's with champagne, pickles, or red underwear.
1. NEW YEAR'S EVE OWES A LOT TO THE ROMANS.
For millennia, humans have been throwing parties, festivals, and religious ceremonies at the dawn of each new year. But we haven’t always agreed about the year's starting point. Four thousand years ago, in ancient Babylon, the first new moon after the Vernal Equinox was considered the dividing line between the previous year and the new one. January 1 was celebrated as the start of the new year for the first time in 45 BCE, after Julius Caesar implemented sweeping changes to the Roman calendar. Ancient Romans celebrated the day with sacrifices to Janus, the Roman god of beginnings (for whom January is named), as well as gift exchanges and big parties.