31,536,000 seconds, or in other words, 365 days: so long is one year. Normally, the New Year begins on January 1st and ends on December 31st. However, this is not always the case.
The yearly circle, which we talked about above, is officially recognized in Europe and in other regions in the West. Let’s travel to the other side of the earth – Chinese celebrate the New Year according to the lunar calendar. For them 2017 is Year of the Rooster and the start of the New Year will be on January 28. Another example: The Muslim world celebrate their New Year on July 15 and Jews on October 7. What’s more: one year is not the same long in different cultures. The Islamic calendar is 10 – 12 days shorter than the “normal” one.
Today, people almost everywhere use (or at least know) the „common“ calendar and welcome the new year also on January 1st as we do. Viewed historically, thanks to the Gregorian calendar, which is known as the most widely used civil calendar, we can celebrate the New Year’s Eve on December 31st and the New Year on January 1st all together. This calendar is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582.
On the other hand, the globalization has made an indelible contribution to the spreading of the Gregorian calendar. Nowadays, many people may see the globalization as a threat. However, we’ve found at least one advantage here: We couldn’t standardize the calendar without the economic cooperation among different countries. That means: we would be living in the year 1395 in Iran and in the year 2560 in Thailand now – unimaginable!
Enjoy New Year’s Eve parties around the world
Have you ever seen how people celebrate the New Year in Sydney? Or maybe you want to witness the sensational New Year’s Eve fireworks in New York City, but you are not living in the United States? No problem! On what’s live? you can join the New Year’s celebrations in Sydney, in Berlin and in New York simply via livestreaming! Just visit whatislive.com to see more details!
So – only few days left: Are you ready for new chances and challenges in 2017? We wish you a happy and healthy new year! Let’s celebrate!
(NC)