Why do we celebrate NEW YEAR on 1st January ? - ब्रह्मज्ञान

The month of January and February were the months created in the end. Roman calendar which is considered as origin of modern Gregorian calendar had only 10 months starting from March to December. If you take a close look at names of  month September, October, November and December, you will find that their names mean 7, 8, 9 and 10 respectively. So it is for sure that month of Jan and Feb were added in the end. But if it is so then Why do we celebrate New Year on 1st January? According to common sense we should celebrate it on 1st March. The answer to this question is again in some historical facts that we are going to tell you.
In our last article we discussed the reason behind adding leap day at the end of Feb. Now we are taking that knowledge a little further and finding the reason behind celebrating 1st Jan as New Year.

Why do we celebrate New Year on 1st January ?

According to historical facts Julius Caesar changed the calendar rules and invented his own Julian Calendar, which was based on solar year (instead of lunar year) so that it can be in sync with seasons. He made the changes in 46 BC and added 67 days before the month of march, which was previously the first month of year. He announced 1st January as the beginning of year 45 BC. Some historians believe that he did it because two consuls (the highest elected political officials in Rome at that time) joined the office on that day for a year long term.

Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 made the Gregorian Calendar by using the Julian Calendar, and made it more accurate by setting some precise rules for leap year. He kept the 1st January as the date of New Year.
Do you know that year 1900 was not a leap year, while year 2000 was. Read More to get an answer.

In the making of Gregorian Calendar, it was found that Julian calendar considered average year to be of 365.25 days, while actually it is 365.242199 days. This difference resulted in ten extra days by 15th century. So Pope Gregory XIII decided to deduct 10 days from calendar. In Gregorian calendar the date after 4th October 1582 was 15th October 1582. UK calendars accepted that change in 1752 and the date after 2nd September 1752 was 14th September 1752.

Note: The above fact made some orthodox people and churches celebrate Christmas on 6th or 7th Jan, as if the 10 days were not removed from the calendar then 6th of 7th of Jan would have been 25th Dec.

If our calendar started from 46 BC and then reformed in 1582, then why didn't we start counting years from those years ?
It is because the makers of Gregorian calendar wanted the people to know that when Jesus was born. However it was only an approximation as historians believe that Jesus was born between 2 to 7 BC.

I hope that the above facts have increased your general knowledge. I you know something more about this topic then feel free to comment.