General Information
New Year's Day signifies the end of one year and the beginning of another. It also presents an opportunity to extend well wishes to friends and family using greeting cards and eCards. Most developed cultures that utilize the Gregorian calendar celebrate New Year's Day on January 1st. The celebration usually begins on New Year's Eve so that specialized customs can be performed at midnight, when the changeover occurs. Traditional holiday greeting cards included well wishes for the New Year as an extension of Christmas card messages. The ease of eCard generation provides for New Year's Day greeting cards to be delivered as their own separate message.

History of New Year's Day
New Year's Day dates back to the adaptation of the ancient Roman lunar calendar that accounted for the 10 months, March through December. This calendar, which completely disregarded winter days, consisted of only 304 days. The months of January, February and Mercedonius were later added to the end of the calendar so that the calendar coincided more with a lunar year. However, Mercedonius was often inserted at inappropriate times or used, politically, to either shorten or lengthen the year. With the adaptation of the Julian calendar in 45 BC, the month of Mercedonius was eliminated and January 1st was the established start of the New Year.

Since that time, New Year's Day celebrations have included the exchange of well wishes using greeting cards, and in more recent years, eCards.

Date of Celebration
New Year's Day celebrations, for cultures that utilize the Gregorian calendar, usually begin on New Years Eve, December 31th, and continue on into the early hours of New Year's Day and beyond. See the full article for more dates.