New Year's Day

When it falls

1 January, the first day of the Gregorian year; the celebration is the night before, at midnight.

The Phala almanac gives the exact day for your own city; the lunar and solar rules above are what it computes from.

The story

The Roman calendar of Julius Caesar began its year on the first of January, the month of Janus, the god of doors and beginnings who looks both ways. Medieval Europe moved the year's start to March or Christmas for centuries, and the Gregorian reform of 1582 brought it back; Britain and its colonies, India among them, only changed in 1752.

It is the one date the whole world keeps at once, from Kiritimati in the Pacific, which sees it first, to Baker Island, which sees it last twenty-six hours later; the midnight fireworks travel westward around the globe on television.

How the day is kept

• The countdown to midnight, with fireworks over Sydney Harbour, the ball dropped in Times Square, the bells of Big Ben, and the twelve grapes eaten in Spain, one to a stroke.
• Auld Lang Syne sung at the stroke, and the first-footing of Scottish Hogmanay, when the first visitor across the threshold brings coal, salt and whisky.
• Resolutions for the year, and a first day spent with family, or in the sea in the cold-water swims of Europe and North America.
• Japan keeps the days as Shōgatsu, its largest festival, with the temple bells struck a hundred and eight times at midnight and the first shrine visit of the year.

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