Not all New Year celebrations take place between December 31st and January 1st. There are several calendars that organise the annual cycle differently from the Gregorian one.
The Muslim New Year
Used to calculate the dates of religious feasts, the Muslim lunar calendar is about 11 days shorter than the civil Gregorian calendar. The Islamic New Year is going to take place on the 18th of July in 2023, when the new crescent moon appears.
Umar set the beginning of the calendar on an important anniversary: the summer in 622 C.E. during which the Prophet Muhammad and his followers are said to have migrated in secret from Mecca, the city in Saudi Arabia where the prophet was born, to Medina. That migration, also known as Hijrah, was an attempt to escape religious persecution, and the date is widely seen as the beginning of Islam both as an organised religion and political institution.
Though the Hijrī calendar has a distinct starting point, the days and times its months begin can vary by region because it relies on the first sighting of the new crescent moon.
The Jewish New Year
The exact date of the Jewish New Year, called Rosh Hashanah, varies every year since it is based on the Hebrew Calendar, where it begins on the first day of the seventh month. Rosh Hashanah is almost always in September or October.
Rosh Hashanah occurs when God is said to have created the world (Tishrei). For this reason, Rosh Hashanah can be seen as the birthday of the world rather than New Year’s in the secular sense
Because Jewish texts differ on the festival’s length, Rosh Hashanah is observed for a single day by some denominations and for two days by others. Work is prohibited, and religious Jews spend much of the holiday attending synagogue. Because the High Holy Day prayer services include distinct liturgical texts, songs and customs, rabbis and their congregations read from a special prayer book known as the machzor during both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
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The Chinese New Year
Like all traditional festivals in China, Chinese New Year is steeped with stories and myths. One of the most popular is about the mythical beast Nian, who ate livestock, crops, and even people on the eve of a new year. (It's interesting that Nian, the 'yearly beast', sounds the same as 'year' in Chinese.) To prevent Nian from attacking people and causing destruction, people put food at their doors for Nian.
It's said that a wise old man figured out that Nian was scared of loud noises (firecrackers) and the colour red. Then, people put red lanterns and red scrolls on their windows and doors to stop Nian from coming inside, and crackled bamboo (later replaced by firecrackers) to scare Nian away. The monster Nian never showed up again.
The origin of the Chinese New Year Festival can be traced back to about 3,500 years ago. Also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is the most important festival in China and a major event in some other East Asian countries.
The date of the Chinese New Year is determined by the Chinese lunar calendar. The date changes every year but is always somewhere in the period from January 21st to February 20th.
Each Chinese year is associated with an animal sign according to the Chinese zodiac cycle. 2023 is the year of the Rabbit, specifically, Water Rabbit. The sign of the Rabbit is a symbol of longevity, peace, and prosperity in Chinese culture. 2023 is predicted to be a year of hope.
The Buddhist New Year
The Mahayana New Year dates differ for each country based on their customs and traditions. While some Mahayana Buddhists observe the celebration on January 1 alongside the Gregorian New Year, others wait for the full moon of January, which will be in 2023 on January 7th. Whereas in Nepal it is appreciated during the birth date of Lord Buddha, which falls in the month of May, also called as Baisakh Purnima or Buddha Jayanti in native language.
The term Mahayana encompasses Buddhist ideologies and philosophies. Mahayana is one of the two main branches of Buddhism and is mostly practised in Northeast Asia — China, Japan, Tibet, Taiwan, Mongolia, and Korea. Each region has its own customs and traditions for practising Mahayana Buddhism.
In Buddhist culture, people clean and decorate their houses to bring luck for the coming year. They gather in temples, light candles and meditate in reflection towards the past, the present and upcoming events.
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