It is a national holiday. The celebration of the New Year is
"borrowed" from the West and mainly takes place in the
metropolis and bigger cities.
Just like in the West the old year, for better or worse, is gone for
good. The New Year starts with fresh promise.
In the West the celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all
holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago.
Celebration on 1stJanuary is purely arbitrary and has no
astronomical nor agricultural significance. The Romans continued to
observe the New Year in late March, but different Roman emperors
continually tampered with their calendar so that the calendar soon
became out of synchronization with the sun.
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.
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