Y Safle

The ancient Romans took March as the first month of the year. That is why “December” is the “tenth month”, and why we form Leap Years by adding an extra day at the end of February, which would have been at the end of the Year.

When Christians began to count years from the time of Christ (which they did not do until more than five hundred years after the event), they took the crucial event to be, not the Circumcision, or the Birth, but Christ’s conception, nine months before the Birth.

They calculated this value back from the date of December 25th, which we know is not the actual date of Christ’s birth, but more of an “official” birth day.

Therefore, they began the New Year with 25 March, even though it may be that 25th January is as good a candidate (9 months before Christ’s actual birth date - perhaps)

It was not until the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar (adopted in Roman Catholic countries in 1582, and in the UK in 1752), that the New Year was considered to begin on 1 January.

The Gregorian Calendar and Julian Calendar were out of step with one another, so when the Gregorian Calendar was adopted in the UK, some 12 days were “lost” to bring the calendars back into sync. Thus 25th March + 12 days became 6th April.

In the UK, the tax year still runs from 6th April to 5th April for this very reason.

When there was all the fuss about whether 2000 or 2001 was the first year of the third millennium, many people forgot that 1st January was not the traditional first day of the millennium! But rest assured, I held my millennium party on 6th April 2001!