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Show New Year Is Age-Old Rife I The history of the celebration of ! New Year's Day takes one far back into antiquity, and encompasses ! mpny peoples, lands and customs. It is only in relatively recent times ; that the New Year has been ushered ush-ered in on January 1. This holiday has been a mobile one and various races have marked it at various seasons. For example, the ancient Persians and Egyptians celebrated New Year's September 22 at the autumnal equinox, while the Greeks did so at the winter solstice on December 21. The vernal ver-nal equinox, March 22, marked the beginning of the year for the Jews. The famous Pope Gregory, In 1582, instituted what has since been known as the Gregorian calendar. Europe during the middle ages had observed New Year's on March 25, but with the advent of Gregory's far-reaching time-recording system the day adopted for the beginning of a new twelve-months was January Jan-uary 1. All countries did not adopt the change at once, but the Christian world accepted it generally In 1752 when the British Parliament finally established New Year's Day as January Jan-uary 1. New Year's customs always have had a joyful theme. Few tears mark the death of the old year. |
