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Here's why we celebrate New Year's Day on January 1

What is the origin story?

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New Year's Eve
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It’s that time of the year again when you have to explain to your near and dear ones why you don’t have New Year’s plans. It is New Year’s Eve, a day before that other day when we miraculously become another person, shed off all our older faults and emerge stronger.

With birds chirping around an egg that looks ready to crack at a moment's notice, Google is all set to welcome 2016 with its all-new doodle. In the doodle can be seen five birds all decked out with hats and party poppers waiting for an egg that has 2016 written on it to crack open. While one of them keeps a constant eye on the ticking clock, the others appear to be just waiting for something to happen. We only wish the doodle had some sort of sound though--this ditty little animation is sans audio.

The doodle then navigates the viewers to the search page containing everything from  the 2011 hit Ashton Kutcher/Zac Efron/Michelle Pfeiffer New Year's Eve movie to other news bits that may be of interest as the year clocks over. Stay tuned--something's about to happen with the birds though.

What is the origin story? 

For at least four millennia, civilisations across the world have been celebrating the start of a new year, and these days a lot of people celebrate the end of the year on December 31, according to the Gregorian Calendar.

In ancient Bablyon and Harappa, they celebrated the New Year’s on the vernal equinox (around March 20), when the imaginary plane on the Earth’s equator passes the centre of the Sun, when day and night are of equal lengths.

It’s the Romans who are responsible for our modern Gregorian Calendar which was modified from the earlier Roman calendar of 10 months and 304 days. The Julian calendar instituted Jan 1 as the first day of the year, and Romans celebrated by offering sacrifices to Janus, the two-headed God of beginnings.

In most English speaking countries, they sing Auld Lang Syne. 

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