Dearest readers, we'd like to take a moment off of covering the latest in smartphone technology to wish you extraordinarily happy moments in greeting the new year 2016! We're pretty sure that most of you are either ready to go, or gearing up for a night to remember as we speak! New year's resolutions are made, the ambition to follow through with them is boiling, good food is being prepared to be shared with fine people, and hopefully each one of you is in great spirits!
Julius Caesar - "I decree you... to a New Year's party!
And hey, just so you know, throwing a massive New Year's party is a long-standing tradition, even if somewhat new from a historical perspective. The earliest New Year's bash is believed to have happened in the land of Mesopotamia, some 2000 before Christ. Mesopotamians partied in March, though, as they considered the vernal equinox as the start of the new year! So the first in history to throw a New Year's celebration on January the 1st was Numa Pontilius, the second king of Rome. This happened just 153 years before Christ.
Before Numa did his thing, the new year began in March, and there was only 10 months in the Roman calendar. But the king introduced January and Februrary so that the counting of years would check out with the empire's brand new solar calendar — a major upgrade over the ageing lunar system that had turned inaccurate over the years.
However, Jan 1 was not strictly adhered to as the start of a new year, which meant some in the empire still celebrated on March 1. It was no other than emperor Julius Caesar to decree (in 45 B.C.) that the new year would occur in January 1, period. Thus, the entirety of the Roman world partied on January 1 from there on, and as you can see, this fine Roman tradition has prevailed over the years!
Enough history talk. Let's celebrate and enter a bigger, prosperous year 2016 like we mean it!
Yours,
the PhoneArena Team
