Why Indians Don't Have One Happy New Year

Around midnight of December 31, when several people in India will sit before their television sets (the rest will be busy at parties), they will invariably be greeted with visuals of places in New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Korea that have already celebrated "Happy New Year", with skylines flaring up in panoramic colours and revellers rocking in sheer joy. West of us, we will see the massive, glitzy gatherings at Trafalgar Square in London or at Times Square in New York. Many Indians wonder why on earth we can't have one grand Indian New Year, with our great Hindustani euphoria.

- Jawhar Sircar

After all, 1.4 billion Chinese have a single new year, which is extremely colourful and known all over the world.

Actually, our situation is that we have more than one new year—we have two major new year seasons, as well as one minor one. Our different regions, peoples, and cultures have decided, quite democratically and through history, when to celebrate their respective new years. We did not have to abide by the edicts of any Caesar or Pope to accept one single date. In Europe, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582 to replace the old Julian calendar and rectify the mismatches that had crept in. This Gregorian calendar was immediately adopted by Catholic countries, while reluctant Protestant European nations took time, but finally adopted it. The problem of when exactly to celebrate the first day of the year continued, nevertheless. Just two centuries after Christianity was legitimised by Roman Emperor Constantine and Christians were no more thrown before lions, the church flexed its muscles and declared that the Roman celebration of the first of January was too pagan. It moved the New Year's day to March 25, on the Feast of the Annunciation. This was close enough to the spring equinox, which falls usually on March 21 or 22, and close to Easter, as well.