NEW YEAR’S Celebrations THROUGH THE AGES.

New Year's celebrations have been taking place for over 4,000 years. The Babylonians marked the new year with an 11-day festival, during which the king was slapped in the face to bring him to tears and remind him of his duties. The Chinese celebrated the new year with sacrifices, rituals, and the incorporation of fire, loud noises, and the color red to ward off a monster-like creature. The ancient Egyptians celebrated the new year when the star Sirius appeared after 70 days of not being visible, and they performed rituals to please the god of the Nile and ensure the annual flooding. Julius Caesar introduced January 1 as New Year's Day in Rome, and the date was later adopted by the Catholic Church. The Gregorian calendar was established in 1582 to adjust for inaccuracies in the Julian calendar. [Extracted from the article]