<P> In pre-Christian Rome under the Julian calendar, the day was dedicated to Janus, god of gateways and beginnings, for whom January is also named . As a date in the Gregorian calendar of Christendom, New Year's Day liturgically marked the Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus, which is still observed as such in the Anglican Church and Lutheran Church . </P> <P> In present day, with most countries now using the Gregorian calendar as their de facto calendar, New Year's Day is probably the most celebrated public holiday, often observed with fireworks at the stroke of midnight as the new year starts in each time zone . Other global New Year's Day traditions include making New Year's resolutions and calling one's friends and family . </P> <P> Mesopotamia (Iraq) instituted the concept of celebrating the new year in 2000 BC and celebrated new year around the time of the vernal equinox, in mid-March . The early Roman calendar designated March 1 as the new year . The calendar had just ten months, beginning with March . That the new year once began with the month of March is still reflected in some of the names of the months . September through December, our ninth through twelfth months, were originally positioned as the seventh through tenth months . (Septem is Latin for "seven"; octo, "eight"; novem, "nine"; and decem, "ten".) Roman legend usually credited their second king Numa with the establishment of the months of January and February . These were first placed at the end of the year, but at some point came to be considered the first two months instead . </P> <P> The January Kalends (Latin: Kalendae Ianuariae) came to be celebrated as the new year at some point after it became the day for the inaugurating new consuls in 153 BC . Romans had long dated their years by these consulships, rather than sequentially, and making the kalends of January start the new year aligned this dating . Still, private and religious celebrations around the March new year continued for some time and there is no consensus on the question of the timing for January 1's new status . Once it became the new year, however, it became a time for family gatherings and celebrations . A series of disasters, notably including the failed rebellion of M. Aemilius Lepidus in 78 BC, established a superstition against allowing Rome's market days to fall on the kalends of January and the pontiffs employed intercalation to avoid its occurrence . </P>

When did new year's day become a holiday