Fun Fact Friday: December 30

history_times_square_ball_drop_37149_sf_hd_still_624x352 New Year’s Day was celebrated on January 1st for the first time, in 45 B.C when Julius Caesar decided that the traditional Roman calendar, which followed the Lunar Cycle, was in dire need of reform. With the enlisted help of Astronomer Sosigenes, the new “Julian” Calendar mimicked the Egyptians by following the Solar Cycle.

It was later reformed again when Pope Gregory XIII commissioned Astronomer Christopher Clavius to fix an 11 minute a year error, which had added 10 days to the calendar since it was first enacted. The “Gregorian” calendar was implemented January 1st 1582. Since then, people around the world have gathered to celebrate the precise arrival of the New Year at Midnight on January 1st.