h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am a New Year humbug, as a celebration I find it quite offensive to my intelligence.

New Year is a celebration that is just lazily plonked on the end of December for no other reason than a Roman Emperor thought it looked better there. After doing 30 seconds of research I found the history of New Year, and it seems that originally it was celebrated at the correct time of year i.e. the beginning of spring. This was the work of the Babylonians in about 2000BC, who celebrated New Year on the first crescent of the New Moon after the Vernal (spring) Equinox.

I think after 4000 years of ballooning around and clearly celebrating New Year at the wrong time, it’s time it was restored to a sensible place in the calendar. The fact that people see it as a time to get drunk is irrelevant; you can do that just as well in the beginning of spring

Obviously there is not going to be such a major change in the calendar at my say so, at the end of the day I do not control one of the most powerful empires in history. However this year I may well celebrate New Year when we see the moon for the first time in spring and dream of a world where people don’t just do something because that’s how it’s always been done.

Very good idea!