| Celebrating New
Year's Day is one of the oldest and most-exciting customs
around the world.
 Ringing church bells, tooting
horns and ear-piercing shrieks echo throughout the world
on this festive day.
Whether visiting relatives or watching New Year's Day
parades at home on the TV, welcoming the New Year is always a
time of entertainment, celebration and resolution.
Since this festival marks the beginning of the year, New
Year's Day is thought of as a perfect time for a "clean start"
or New Year's resolutions. People worldwide resolve to act
better in the year just beginning than in the year just ended.
No day has ever been observed on so many different dates or
in so many different ways. All over the world, countries have
their own special beliefs about what the New Year means to
them.
While many people in the United States observe New Year's
Day on January 1st by throwing parties late into the night on
the eve of December 31st, people in China celebrate this
holiday for several days between January 17th and February
19th, at the time of the new moon. The Chinese called this
time of feasting and celebrations Yuan Tan. Lanterns
illuminate the streets as the Chinese use thousands of
lanterns "to light the way" for the New Year. The Chinese
believe that evil spirits roam the earth at the New Year, so
they let off firecrackers to scare off the spirits and
seal their windows and doors with paper to keep the evil
demons out.
In Scotland, the New Year is called Hogmanay. In the
villages of Scotland, barrels of tar are set afire and
then rolled down the streets. This ritual symbolizes
that the old year is burned up and the new one is allowed to
enter.
New Year's Day is also the Festival of Saint Basil in
Greece. Children leave their shoes by the fireside on New
Year's Day with the hope that Saint Basil, who was famous for
his kindness, will come and fill their shoes with gifts.
The Jewish New Year is called Rosh Hashanah. It is a holy
time when Jews recall the things they have done wrong in the
past, and then promise to do better in the future. Special
services are held in the synagogues, children are given new
clothes and New Year loaves are baked to remind people of
harvest time.
Iran's New Year's Day, which is in March, celebrates not
only the beginning of the new year according to the solar
calendar, but also bahar, "the beginning of spring."
On New Year's Day in Japan, everyone gets dressed in their
new clothes and homes are decorated with pine branches and
bamboo--symbols of long life.
In European countries such as Italy, Portugal and the
Netherlands, families start the New Year by first attending
church services. Afterwards, they visit friends and relatives.
In Italy, boys and girls receive gifts of money on New Year's
Day.
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