Why is New Year’s Day celebrated? New Year’s Day is the beginning of another year. People commemorate the passing of the previous year and celebrate the coming of a new year. This event occurs on the first hours of January 1st. All countries make this day a holiday for it is celebrated worldwide.
Countries using the Gregorian calendar celebrates New Year’s Day on January 1st. Some countries or cultures have their own New Year’s Day depending on the type of the calendar they are using. Eastern Orthodox churches follow the Julian calendar and celebrate their new year on the January 14th of the Gregorian calendar. Chinese New Year could be a date between January 21st to February 20th of the Gregorian Calendar, depending on when the first new moon of the new year appears. Traditional Chinese follow February 4th as their Chinese New Year. Buddhists New Year is actually the birthday of the Buddha and lands on either the 1st (countries of Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Malaysia follow this day for new year) or 31st (Thailand and Singapore’s Buddhist New Year) of May What people do, and how New Year’s Day is celebrated. People join their friends and families in celebrating this day in different ways. Most people go out to New Year’s Eve parties either on streets or in famous social places like clubs and parks. Some spiritual people will have a church service an hour before the clock turns midnight of the last day of the current year. Others just spend the remaining hours of the year with their families sharing memories of the passing year. Making noises and fireworks is the most common way of signaling the end of the current year and welcoming the New Year. Some people believe that making noises will turn away bad luck for the coming year. Fireworks makes the skies alive which believed by some people to bring new hope. But for many, fireworks is a way to celebrate a New Year. Places to be/see for New Year’s Day Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is famous for its fireworks display which occurs on its renowned beach, Copacabana. Sydney Harbor in Australia holds one of the world’s largest celebrations of New Year’s Eve, gathering more than 1 million people each year. Times Square in New York City is well-known for its 1, 070 pound Waterford crystal ball with a diameter of 6 feet. This ball is also called “the big apple” which is lowered on the top of Times Square starting from the last minute of the year until it reaches the bottom which is at the stroke of midnight. New Year’s Day Activities New Year’s Day is a day to remember what has transpired in the previous and what to expect in the new year. Because of that, parties are held in almost all places where people reside. Most people make a New Year’s resolution to fix the mistakes that they have made in the previous year. |
