About January 1
January 1, 2024 is the 1st day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 365 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday.
You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.
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Capricorn is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Garnet is the modern birthstone for this month. Emerald is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 40 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
January 1: More About This Day
The preceding day is December 31 of the previous year.
During the Middle Ages under the influence of the Christian Church, many countries moved the start of the year to one of several important Christian festivals — December 25 (the Nativity of Jesus), March 1, March 25 (the Annunciation), or even Easter. Eastern European countries (most of them with populations showing allegiance to the Orthodox Church) began their numbered year on September 1 from about 988.
In England, January 1 was celebrated as the New Year festival, but from the 12th century to 1752 the year in England began on March 25 (Lady Day). So, for example, the Parliamentary record records the execution of Charles I occurring in 1648 (as the year did not end until March 24), although modern histories adjust the start of the year to January 1 and record the execution as occurring in 1649.
Most western European countries changed the start of the year to January 1 before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. For example, Scotland changed the start of the Scottish New Year to January 1 in 1600. England, Ireland and the British colonies changed the start of the year to January 1 in 1752. Later that year in September, the Gregorian calendar was introduced throughout Britain and the British colonies. These two reforms were implemented by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750.
January 1 became the official start of the year as follows:
- 1522 The Republic of Venice
- 1544 Holy Roman Empire (Germany)
- 1556 Spain, Portugal
- 1559 Prussia, Sweden
- 1564 France
- 1576 Southern Netherlands
- 1579 Lorraine
- 1583 United Provinces of the Netherlands (northern)
- 1600 Scotland
- 1700 Russia
- 1721 Tuscany
- 1752 Great Britain (excluding Scotland) and its colonies
What Happened On January 1
- 153 BC –Roman consuls begin their year in office.
- 69 –The Roman legions in Germania Superior refuse to swear loyalty to Galba. They rebel and proclaim Vitellius as emperor.
- 417 –Emperor Honorius forces Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his famous general (magister militum).
- 1515 –King Francis I of France succeeds to the French throne.
- 1772 –The first traveler’s cheques, which can be used in 90 European cities, go on sale in London, England, Great Britain.
- 1800 –The Dutch East India Company is dissolved.
- 1801 –The dwarf planet Ceres is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
- 1806 –The French Republican Calendar is abolished.
- 1808 –The importation of slaves into the United States is banned.
- 1894 –The Manchester Ship Canal, England, is officially opened to traffic.
- 1928 –Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin’s secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc.
- 1945 –World War II: In retaliation for the Malmedy massacre, U.S. troops massacre 30 SS prisoners at Chenogne.
- 1949 –United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly.
- 1959 –Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro’s forces during the Cuban Revolution.
- 1960 –Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom.
- 1978 –Air India Flight 855 Boeing 747 crashes into the sea, due to instrument failure and pilot disorientation, off the coast of Bombay, India, killing 213.
- 1983 –The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.
- 1990 –David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City’s first black mayor.
- 1994 –The North American Free Trade Agreement comes into effect.
- 2011 –Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the seventeenth eurozone country.
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