China first called the first day of the first lunar month "New Year's Day". Meta means "early" and "beginning" and refers to "day". Together, New Year's Day is the first day of the year. The date of the first day of the first month was also very different before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, the New Year's Day of the past dynasties is not consistent. Meng Xiyue (1 month) is the first month of the Xia calendar, the twelfth month of the Shang lunar calendar (1February) and the winter month of the week calendar (1 1 month). After Qin Shihuang unified China, Yangchun month (October) was the first month, that is, the first day of October was New Year's Day. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it has been stipulated that Meng Xiyue (January) is the first month, and Meng Xiyue (the first day of the first month in the summer calendar) is called New Year's Day, which has been used until the end of the Qing Dynasty. But this is the summer calendar, that is, the lunar calendar or lunar calendar, and it is not what we call New Year's Day today.

In A.D. 19 1 1, the Revolution of 1911 led by Sun Yat-sen overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. In order to "follow the agricultural season, the western calendar and the statistics", the first year of the Republic of China decided to use the Gregorian calendar (actually used as 19 12), and stipulated that Gregorian calendar 1 was called "New Year's Day", but it was not called "New Year's Day".

Today's "New Year's Day" is the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference on September 27th, A.D. 1949. When we decided to establish the Republic of China, we also decided to adopt the universal calendar, officially designated the Gregorian calendar 1 as "New Year's Day" and changed the first day of the first lunar month to "Spring Festival".

2. About New Year's Day: the origin of New Year's Day

In modern times, New Year's Day refers to the first day of the first year of the year. Since the Gregorian calendar was introduced into China, the word New Year's Day has been dedicated to the New Year, and the traditional old calendar year is called the Spring Festival.

Before that, New Year's Day always refers to the first day of the Chinese New Year. Yuan means "early" and "beginning", but it means "day". New Year's Day is called "the first day" and is the first day of the year.

1On September 27th, 949, the first plenary session of the China People's Political Consultative Conference decided that "the people of China and the national calendar should adopt the AD calendar method", which is what we call the solar calendar. In order to distinguish between the two New Years, and in view of the fact that the "beginning of spring" in the 24 solar terms of the lunar calendar is just around the Lunar New Year, the first day of the first lunar month is changed to "Spring Festival" and the solar calendar is January.

Celebrating the beginning of the new year and celebrating the new year can be said to be a common custom in all countries and regions of the world. In China, it is also listed as a national holiday. China and most countries and regions in the world adopt the Gregorian calendar, and 65438+1 October1is designated as the beginning of the new year, which is called "New Year's Day".

Because the longitude position of different countries in the world is different and the time of different countries is different, the date of "New Year's Day" is also different. For example, Tonga, an island country in Oceania, is located on the west side of the Japanese boundary. It is the first place in the world to start a day and the first country to celebrate New Year's Day. Western Samoa, to the east of international date line, is the latest place in the world to start a new day. According to the Gregorian calendar, China is the first 12 country in the world to start the New Year.

3. New Year's Day customs around the world

Thailand

The traditional Thai New Year, namely Songkran Festival (Sanskrit transliteration), is also called Songkran Festival, and the time is from April 13 to June 16 on the Gregorian calendar every year. During the festival, people travel with huge Buddha statues in cars, followed by floats, on which stood the "Goddess Gan Song" in makeup, and groups of young men and women in colorful national costumes, drumming long drums, singing and dancing. On both sides of the road where the parade passed, good men and women walked along the street, filled with water soaked in scallops and permeated with spices in silver bowls, and sprinkled it on the Buddha statue and the "goddess Gan Song" to pray for a happy New Year and good weather. Then people splash water on each other, wishing their elders a long and healthy life, wishing friends and relatives and unmarried young men and women a happy New Year, and splashing water on each other to express their love. On the first day of the new year, Thais will put a basin of clear water on the windowsill and doorway, and every family will go to the riverside in the suburbs to take a New Year bath. In order to celebrate the New Year, Thais will hold a large-scale "Elephant Race Conference", which includes: tug-of-war between elephants, elephants jumping up to pick up things, elephants crossing people, elephant football matches, ancient elephant array performances and so on. It's wonderful and touching.