Why Do We Celebrate New Year’s?

Ahoy! Lets Think! Today we answer the question, Why Do we celebrate New Years? We celebrate a new year at Midnight on the last day of December, but why do we do this? How did we decide when one year ends and another one begins? Well it all started a long time ago, 4,000 years to be exact when in ancient Babylon they celebrated the new year at the first new moon after the vernal equinox which was actually in late March. There was a 11 day festival where they celebrated many things and had a big party but no giant lit up ball like we have in New York today! So why do we now celebrate New years in January? Well throughout time different civilizations welcomed the new year based on different things like a significant astronomical or agricultural event. The Romans actually celebrated New Years in March, following their lunar cycle until 46 B.C., when the emperor Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar. Caesar honored the month’s namesake Janus the Roman god of beginnings whose two faces allowed him to look simultaneously into the past and the future .Caesar instituted January 1 as the first day of the year. Today, the New Year is celebrated in different ways all around the world, but typical New Year’s traditions include everything from toasting with champagne and eating foods thought to bestow good luck to making resolutions for the coming year. Some people kiss their loved ones at midnight as a sign of good luck and celebration. People want to celebrate all the good things that happened the past year and make resolutions, this could be as simple as going to the gym more! So that answers the question, why do we celebrate new years! That took some thinking! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subscribe to Thinking Captain on YouTube: We have a TON of interesting educational content like these videos about animals! Or maybe you just want to learn about Natural Disasters!? Or maybe you are just brand new and want to watch all the cool stuff?