Akitu: Babylon's First New Year

The world's first New Year celebration began about 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon, where people marked the spring equinox with a twelve-day festival called Akitu. The rituals renewed the king's divine mandate and symbolized the rebirth of nature. Centuries later, Julius Caesar shifted the date to January 1, dedicating it to Janus, the Roman god of beginnings.

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