January 1st Not Always New Years Holiday – by H. Wessell

This Thursday January 1,  millions of Americans mark a holiday that has become virtually worldwide over a long road covering more than two thousand years, but made stops at several other dates along the way.

   Observance of New Year’s Day as a national holiday on that  date  – in America and other societies, mostly celebrated the night before – now marches from timezone to timezone around the globe.

   The celebration of the new year on this date developed over many centuries, indeed from several centuries BC/ BCE; but it became virtually worldwide  by the late 16th century, mainly as the Gregorian Calendar superseded the Julian Calendar in most parts of the world, with a few more countries adopting it even as late as 1941.

Read the entire article in the January 1st edition of the Express.