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Many of us are excited to welcome in the year 2001, but did you know that not all countries celebrate the New Year at the same time?

In fact, the original origin of New Year’s was not even in January. Let’s explore the history of this fun holiday, and how other countries and cultures celebrate it.

New Year’s is considered the oldest holiday celebrated. It was first recognized in ancient Babylon (which is now the country of Iraq), 4000 years ago around 2000 BC. The people there celebrated in the spring. They did not have a written calendar, but it is believed that they considered the New Year to begin on what is now March 23. The reason they celebrated in spring was because at that time of year, spring begins and new crops are planted. New life is everywhere during this time, and the people of ancient Babylon looked at it as a new year.

In ancient Egypt, the River Nile flooded near the end of September. People looked to this time as the New Year because the flooding allowed the crops to grow, which would not have grown in the desert otherwise.

The Romans also observed the New Year in March. In 46 BC, their Emperor Julius Caesar began a new calendar and declared that the New Year date was to be on January first. He picked this date because January was named after the Roman god Janus who had two heads. One head looked back to the last year and the other looked forward to the new year. The calendar that Caesar implemented was one that stuck with many societies. It is the same calendar that we use today.

Some other countries and religions that don’t celebrate on January 1 are the Chinese. Their New Year is celebrated some time between January 17 and February 19 during the new moon. The Jewish New Year, called Rosh Ha-Shanah, is observed during September or October. Muslims use a 354 day calendar for most years, and as a result, the Muslim New Year falls on different days each year.

So when you say Happy New Year at midnight on January 1, 2000, you’ll know that not everyone in the world will be saying those words.