New Years is considered the oldest holiday celebrated in the world, with records dating as far back as 2,000 BC in the celebration of Akitu in ancient Mesopotamia (Andrews, 2012). Even earlier than that, we can see evidence of celebrations regarding the passage of time reflected in celebrations of ancient Egypt, where the holiday was a series of festivities following the ebb and flow of the Nile river’s flood and drought seasons. Later, the Romans would also celebrate the new year for the March equinox, reflecting the end of winter and the beginning of spring (Andrews, 2012). Eventually, it would be the Romans who would introduce the months of February and January to the calendar, officially declaring January 1st the New Year in a festival dedicated to Janus, for whom the month of January was named (Forsythe, 2014). Eventually, January 1st became the official New Years date across Europe and in the Calendar (New Style) Act of 1750, Great Brittain became the final major world power to adopt New Years on January 1st (Calendar (new style) act 1750 1980).

The lunar New Years, often colloquially referred to as the Chinese New Year, was first recorded during the Shang dynasty sometime in 1600–1046 BC. It was believed at the time that an ancient and evil entity called Nian (translated – ‘year’) who would devour livestock and destroy crops (Smith, 2024). At first, the people would leave out dishes of food on their porches to appease the monster, but eventually a clever old man figured out that Nian feared loud noises (firecrackers) and the color red. The tradition of fireworks comes from this story, as the Chinese invented fireworks by lighting bamboo shoots, which would then sparkle and crackle, much like our modern firecrackers (B, 2023).

Many of the traditions that we keep today are rooted in these ancient traditions from long ago. For instance, we know fireworks comes from ancient China, while the keeping of New Years resolutions date all the way back to Akitu in Babylon. Some of the more modern aspects of New Years include the ball drop in New York City, which originated in 1907 with Walter Palmer, who watched an old iron clock drop a little ball to initiate the chime at noon every day (Treisman, 2024). Another more modern tradition is that of the song Auld Lang Syne, which was not originally a New Years song at all. The song is attributed to Robert Burns, who wrote the song in 1788, but was published after his death in 1796 as a poem; the melody was only added later (Lewis, 2024). It wasn’t until 1929 that the song became associated with New Years when Guy Lombardo played the song over the radio live on the holiday.