The idea of using the first day of January to mark the beginning of the new year dates back to time of Julius Caesar, five decades before the birth of Jesus

The idea of using the first day of January to mark the beginning of the new year dates back to the time of Julius Caesar, five decades before the birth of Jesus.

Many calendars existed before Caesar created the Julian calendar in 46 B.C., but his marked Jan. 1 as the official start of the new year. That was the day that the two consuls, the highest elected political officials in Rome, took office to start serving their year-long terms.

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by Borgna Brunner Julius Caesar and the Gregorian Calendar

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The celebration of the new year on January 1st is a relatively new phenomenon. The earliest recording of a new year celebration is believed to have been in Mesopotamia, c. 2000 B.C. and was celebrated around the time of the vernal equinox, in mid-March. A variety of other dates tied to the seasons were also used by various ancient cultures. The Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Persians began their new year with the fall equinox, and the Greeks celebrated it on the winter solstice.