<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/8abd27a1-968a-4d3b-9c16-2314098f9730/2588E89A-07B4-405E-9542-4384B482B729/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://classic2.reference.com/thisday/index.html?1230835720004" href="http://classic2.reference.com/thisday/index.html?1230835720004" style="font-size: 11px;">classic2.reference.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://classic2.reference.com/thisday/index.html?1230835720004"><P>On the Roman republican calendar, the year began on March 1, but after 153 BC the official date was January 1, and this tradition was continued in the Julian calendar of 46 BC. This day was first recognized as New Year's Day with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain in 1582. It was not until 1752 that the New Style was adopted in Britain -- and Russia was last to recognize this as the date, in 1918. The earliest-known record of a New Year festival dates from about 2000 BC in Mesopotamia, where in Babylonia the new year began with the new moon after the spring equinox and in Assyria with the new moon nearest the autumn equinox.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://classic2.reference.com/thisday/index.html?1230835720004"><P><A href="http://classic2.reference.com/browse/wiki/45_BC" target="">45 B.C.E.</A> - <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=New%20Year%27s%20Day" target="">New Year's Day</A> was celebrated for the first time when the <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=Julian%20calendar" target="">Julian calendar</A> took effect.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://classic2.reference.com/thisday/index.html?1230835720004"><P><A href="http://classic2.reference.com/browse/wiki/1582" target="">1582</A> - <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=New%20Year%27s%20Day" target="">New Year's Day</A> was introduced with the new <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=Gregorian%20calendar" target="">Gregorian calendar</A> in <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=France" target="">France</A>, <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=Italy" target="">Italy</A>, <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=Portugal" target="">Portugal</A>, and <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=Spain" target="">Spain</A> (not adopted in Britain until 1752).</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://classic2.reference.com/thisday/index.html?1230835720004"><P><A href="http://classic2.reference.com/browse/wiki/1813" target="">1813</A> - The <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=Allies" target="">Allies</A> defeated <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=Napoleon" target="">Napoleon</A> at the <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=Battle%20of%20the%20Nations" target="">Battle of the Nations</A> at <A href="http://classic2.reference.com/search?q=Leipzig" target="">Leipzig</A>.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/2588E89A-07B4-405E-9542-4384B482B729/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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