The practice of beginning the year on 1 January dates back to ancient Rome. In 153 BC, Roman authorities moved the start of the civil year from March to January to align with the inauguration of newly elected consuls, the empire’s chief magistrates. Consuls needed to take office earlier in the year to manage military campaigns and state finances more effectively.
January is named after Janus, the god of doorways, transitions and beginnings, a fitting motif for a month concerned with opening ledgers and setting plans in motion. Crucially, it also became the point at which taxes, contracts and official records were renewed. The Roman New Year functioned very much as a fiscal and administrative reset; and indeed, it still does, the Luxembourgish tax year runs from 1 January until the 31 December.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the calendar fractured into a range of competing systems. Across medieval Europe, New Year’s Day varied widely. Some regions would begin their year on 25 March, others at Easter or Christmas. The choices of when people celebrated the new year were driven more by Christian theology than by administrative convenience.
A vestige of this period is April Fools’ Day, when people were mocked for continuing to celebrate the old date for New Year.
The implementation of 1 January as the standard New Year was gradual, and was finally formalised with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, which aimed to correct astronomical drift but also brought consistency to civil administration. Catholic countries adopted it quickly, Protestant states more slowly, and some did not fully comply until the eighteenth century.
The reason for creating a consensual date for new year across Europe was very much for the same reason it was introduced by the Romans. A fixed New Year on 1 January simplified taxation, record-keeping, and governance.
It is worth noting that modern fiscal years do not always align with the calendar year, but the symbolic resetand customary celebration remains. Ironically, in many countries, like the United Kingdom, the fiscal year starts on the date of one of the old new year dates – 1 April.
In Luxembourg, the shift to celebrating New Year on 1 January, like many, dates back to the late sixteenth century, following the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. As a Catholic territory within the Holy Roman Empire, The Grand Duchy implemented the reform soon after it was promulgated in 1582.
Before that, the start of the year across Luxembourg was not fixed and could fall on a range of dates depending on religious and administrative custom. By the early 1600s, however, 1 January was firmly established as the start of the civil year in Luxembourg, aligning legal records, taxation and official business with the calendar system inherited from Roman administrative practices over 2,000 years ago.
When the clock strikes midnight, remember we are not just welcoming a new beginning. We are, knowingly or not, keeping time with an ancient empire.
