18. New Year 新年/元旦的由来

The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Yearbegan with the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox.

新年是最古老的节假日，最早出现于4000年前的古巴比仑时期。在公元前2000年前后，巴比仑的新年开始于春分后的第一个新月日。

The beginning of spring is a logical time to start a new year. After all, it is the season of rebirth, ofplanting new crops, and of blossoming. January 1, on the other hand, has noastronomical nor agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary. The Babylonian new year celebration lasted for eleven days. Each day had its ownparticular mode of celebration, but it is safe to say that modern New Year's Eve festivities pale in comparison. The Romans continued to observe the new year in late March, but their calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun. In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the new year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar, in 46 BC, established what has come to be known as the JulianCalendar. It again established January 1 as the new year. But in order tosynchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year dragon for 445 days.

春天是一个代表新生的季节，一个播种的季节、一个百花始放的季节，将春天的来临作为新的一年的开始比较符合逻辑。1月1日，从另一个方面来说，没有天文或农业的意义，纯粹是任意定之。巴比伦新年持续11天，每天都有不一样的庆祝方式，但有把握地说，现代的除夕庆祝活动与之相比，显得苍白无趣。罗马人继承了这一传统，也在三月后期庆祝新年，但在不同的君主统治时期，罗马的历法不断地被修改，因而造成了历法与太阳运行的不同步。为了确立一套正确的历法，在公元前153年罗马将1月1日定为新一年的开始，但其后历法仍被不断修改，直到公元前46年恺撒确立起现在我们所说的公历，才又将1月1日确立为新年。但为了与太阳历同步，凯撒让前一年延长至445天。

Although in the first centuries AD the Romans continued celebrating the new year, the early Catholic Church condemned the festivities as paganism. But as Christianity became more widespread, the early church began having its own religious observances concurrently with many of the pagan celebrations, and New Year's Day was no different. NewYear is still observed as the Feast of Christ's Circumcision by some denominations.

虽然罗马人在公元前一世纪里仍然庆祝新年，早期的天主教堂将其庆祝活动视为异教信仰。但是，随着基督教变得更加普遍，初期教会开始有自己的宗教纪念活动同时与许多异教庆典，和元旦并没有什么不同。许多教派仍然将这一天纪念为基督的割礼守节。