What day would make the most sense to celebrate the "New Year"?

Question

Since the calendar most people use around the world is solar (based on the time it takes the Earth to complete a revolution around the sun), I've always thought that it would make a lot more sense to celebrate the new year during a solstice or even an equinox, rather than the seemingly random day we have now. I think I'd probably choose either the summer solstice or the spring equinox (north hemisphere) for no good reason.

How about you and why?

Answer 1

In the northern hemisphere, in places like Europe, the Sun gets VERY low in the sky around the time of the Winter solstice, to the point that the Vikings would light great bonfires to help bolster the greatly weakened Sun into returning, lest it continue to fade away into nothingness. It was around January 1st that the early humans could clearly and definitively notice that the Sun was indeed coming back, and so the "new year" could then be assured of a returning Sun.

Answer 2

January 1 makes the most sense . The solstice occurs on Dec 21 st and the sun does not appear to move for about 10 days. After the 10 days the movement of the sun can be measured visually.

Answer 3

No.it makes sense to keep things the way they are

Answer 4

Well, many ancient cultures did choose differing dates, some did correspond with the vernal equinox, for instance.



http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/5-ancient-new-years-celebrations

Answer 5

If we keep the same calendar that is used in "the Western Civilization", then consider the following:



September literally means "the 7th month" (Septem = 7 in Latin)

October = "the 8th month"

November = the 9th month

December = the 10th month (Decem = 10 in Latin)



Go back far enough (before Julius Caesar) and there were also Quintilis (the 5th month, now July) and Sextilis (the 6th month, now August).



Work backwards, and you get March 1 as the beginning of the year... as it was in Rome before the Church took control.



March (Mars = Martius) was named after the god of war; it was the earliest month when the armies could use the roads to go out and conquer more territory (winter = mud and lousy weather).



For a while, the two months of winter did not have official names, except in the religious calendar of celebrations where Janus was a two-faced god capable of looking to the past (the previous year and the upcoming new year) -- he was also the god of doors (being able to see comings AND goings).



February was the month of "febrility" (fevers). Because it became the last month of the year, it was the one to be left with only 28 days and to have the extra day added every 4 years.



Therefore, I vote for March 1 (= kalenda Martii)

Answer 6

Why not make the Solstices and the Equinoxes the mid-points of their respective seasons instead of the start of their respective seasons?



Right now, the start of Winter is the day the amount of daylight starts increasing, and the start of Summer is the day that the amount of daylight starts decreasing. How much sense does that make?



Make the Winter Solstice the middle of Winter, so that Winter is all of the days of the one-fourth of the year with the least amount of daylight.



Make the Summer Solstice the middle of Summer, so that Summer is all of the days of the one-fourth of the year with the greatest amount of daylight.



The first day of Winter would be approximately 45 days before the Winter Solstice (around Nov 6th) and the last day of Winter would be approximately 45 days after the Winter Solstice (around Feb 5th).



The first day of Spring would be approximately 45 days before the Vernal Equinox (around Feb 6th) and the last day of Spring would be approximately 45 days after the Vernal Equinox (around May 5th).



The first day of Summer would be approximately 45 days before the Summer Solstice (around May 6th) and the last day of Summer would be approximately 45 days after the Summer Solstice (around Aug 5th).



The first day of Autumn would be approximately 45 days before the Autumnal Equinox (around Aug 6th) and the last day of Autumn would be approximately 45 days after the Autumnal Equinox (around Nov 5th).

Answer 7

April 1st - that’s April Fools Day. No other reason than it’s the first month alphabetically...

Answer 8

Sounds like a good plan!

Unfortunately, the solstices and equinoxes do not fall on the same day each year.



I would like the calendar to be metric with ten months each year, each two months having 37 and 36 days. Leap year would add a day at the end so December would have 37.



And while we're at it, make our time metric also with the day divided into tenths, hundreds, etc. Everyone could have the same time such as UTC time (and no daylight savings). Also, circles could be divided metrically with 100 instead of 360 degrees. Degrees of arc would be divided metrically instead of by 1/60ths.

Answer 9

Hindus use March 23 when the Sun is at equator and moving towards north. January 14, Makar Sankranti, Sun will be lowest down and start moving upward. Our calendar is based on Moon but its gets corrected once in three year by adding extra month. Junlian calendar gets corrected once in 4 year by adding an extra day. In south the new year starts from March 23.

Answer 10

If you want to celebrate new years on lunar calendar instead of tropical solar Gregorian calendar, you can Celebrate new years on February 16 , 2018, Chinese new year. Amy people celebrate BOTH new years.. There's reason WHY Easter is on the first Sunday AFTER the first full Moon after the vernal equinox in the in the northern hemisphere. For ancient cultures based on agriculture. the new year DID start with the equinox.



The Hebrew calendar is also a lunar calendar..



I celebrate equinoxes and solstices in some way, although usually celebrate Christmas. This year i decided NOT to get any wine to celebrate the winter solstice. Alcohol is depression trigger for me. YA can be VERY depressing....



However, since Mardi Gras is February 13 this year, you might still be recovering from your hangover on February 16., 2018. Yes I am serious. one of my hometowns IS New Orleans..New years in New Orleans more like the 4th of July everywhere else in the USA.. it so QUIET at midnight in central OK. VERY few fireworks going off... They don't ring church bells anymore either..This year it was also FRIGID..

Answer 11

January 1st

Answer 12

Maybe it should be based on surname so the event is spread out over the year. People whose surname begins with "A" celebrate new year on the first few days of January. Then people with surnames beginning with "B" celebrate new year for the few days after that, and so on until people with surnames beginning with "Z" celebrate new year on the last day of December.



Christmas could be organised the same way, so that not everyone goes on vacation at the same time and everyone does not have to invade the shopping malls at the same time.



It is called load levelling, and works very well in other fields so why not practise it for public celebrations.



Cheers!

Answer 13

I agree but the whole system is a series of arbitrary historical events and decisions.

Answer 14

I choose 1 January for no good reason.

Answer 15

7/1