New Year's Day was in September in Anglo-Saxon times, to coincide with the Autumnal Equinox (which occurs around the 22nd of the month). William the Conqueror switched the date of the New Year to January the 1st, which date had been introduced by Julius Caesar in 42 BC. This reflected the month and the nature of the god JANUS, who looked two ways, in this case forwards to the new year and backwards to the past year. In the Council of Tours (a city in the Loire valley) in 567AD the Catholic Church abolished January 1st as the New Year because of this connections with Paganism, and moved the celebration to coincide with Christmas Day. Christmas is actually closer to the Winter Solstice anyway. In Medieval Europe many countries (including England) celebrated the New Year on March 25th, which was near to the Vernal Equinox (which actually falls a few days earlier). Alternatively the date could represent Easter although, going by the lunar calendar, the date of Easter can vary widely. England continued that tradition until 1752, when the timing of the New Year reverted to January the 1st with the belated adoption of the Gregorian Calendar, which had been introduced under Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. This meant that the year 1752 was only 271 days long, from March 25th to January 1st, taking into account the new New Year, together with the 11 days that really were "lost"; people went to bed on 2nd of September, and when they woke up the next day it was the 13th!
Why does the tax year begin on the 5th of April? Until 1752 the tax year in Great Britain started on 25th March, the old New Year's Day. In order to ensure no loss of tax revenue, the Treasury decided that the taxation year which had started on 25th March 1752 would be of the usual length (365 days) and therefore it would end on 4th April 1753, the following tax year beginning on 5th April. The difference between the 25th of March and the 5th of April is 11 days, the time that was lost in September 1752. Incidentally, the one astronomical event which has never been associated with the New Year is the Summer Solstice.
In modern times the major celebration is New Year's Eve, when family members gather to raise a glass and maybe even make a few New Year's Resolutions. In England it was always a more modest occasion than it has always been in Scotland, where Hogmanay begins on the 31st of December and is then followed by two Bank Holidays. It takes them that long to throw off the resulting hangover! In recent years the New Year's Eve fireworks display in London has been viewed from the Strand. It has become a major event in the post-Christmas period in England, and was only interrupted by the pandemic.
December 31st 1974; we came home via the grocer's and left our order for him to deal with. We got the supper ready, not forgetting the dogs' dinner - Fido ate his and Suki's! We had steak and onion, beans, peas and potato followed by fruit and cream. We took the dogs up the road to the Railway Inn. Mum sat knitting by the fire. We all had a game of MouseyMousey - I have no record of who won. Later I got out the projector and we aw a lot of films; the longest one was of summer 1969. We stayed up long enough to welcome in the NEW YEAR, Dad and my sister with port and me with a glass of whisky (obviously I was already a spirit drinker – I still welcome in the New Year with a tot of whisky). The weather was icy, so we did venture far in the bad weather. Instead I got the Hoover out and cleaned the front room.
JOSEPH MASON
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