January 1st is the day when officially the first day of new year is celebrated.

The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a new year on what is now March 23, although they themselves had no written calendar.

In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the new year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar, in 46 BC, established what has come to be known as the Julian Calendar. It again established January 1 as the new year. But in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days.

In the first centuries AD the Romans continued celebrating the new year.

During the Middle Ages, the Church remained opposed to celebrating New Years. January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years.

New Year traditions include exchange of Greetings "Happy New Year". Other traditions of the season include the making of New Year's resolutions. That tradition also dates back to the early Babylonians.The early Babylonian's most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment. Traditionally, it was thought that one could affect the luck they would have throughout the coming year by what they did or ate on the first day of the year. It was once believed that the first visitor on New Year's Day would bring either good luck or bad luck the rest of the year. It was particularly lucky if that visitor happened to be a tall dark-haired man.