Catholics have three chances, not one, to celebrate New Years
For Catholics, the first Sunday of Advent, Jan. 1, and March 25 are all in one way or another the beginning of a new year, so in the Church there are really three occasions, not just one, for belting out 'Auld Lang Syne' and throwing the confetti.
Fr. Dwight Longenecker
December 28, 2016
CRUX CONTRIBUTOR
On the First Sunday of Advent, I usually wish the people of my parish “a Happy New Year!” They are nonplussed to hear this at the end of November, until I remind them that we follow a liturgical year as well as a calendrical one, and the first Sunday of Advent is the start of another annual cycle.
The second New Year’s Day for Catholics is, of course, January 1.
But it wasn’t always so.
For most of human history the New Year did not start in the mid Winter, but in Spring. The first record of a civilization celebrating the beginning of a new year was in Mesopotamia around the year 2000 BC. It seemed logical to start the year in mid-March-the time of the Spring equinox.
https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2016/12/28/catholics-three-chances-not-one-celebrate-new-years/
