Happy New Year!

The start of the New Year is celebrated all around the world especially in countries that has adopted the Roman Calendar, also known as the Julian Calendar, as the civil calendar. The order of months in the Roman calendar has always been from January to December since 700 BC.

Originally the Romans always identified the years based on the years consuls. According to historians, since 153 BC, the Roman consul would enter office on 1^st January of each year. From then on, 1^st January was regarded as the first day of the year.

The Roman calendar was improved on by Gaius Julius Caesar in 46 BC and was referred to as the Julian Calendar. This was again improved on by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and was generally known as the Gregorian Calendar.

With the expansion of Western culture to the rest of the world in the twentieth century, 1^st January became widely accepted as the first day of the year even to countries that have their own New Year celebrations that based their calendar on the Lunar month.

At present, the celebration of the New Year is a major event worldwide. This is the time of the year when people send New Year greetings to each other and express hope for better things to come in the New Year.

May 2010 bring each and everyone lots of happiness, good health, peace and love.