Many believe the celebration of the new year was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. Making it one of the oldest holidays celebrated. Celebrating on January 1st is a relatively new tradition… a variety of dates are tied to seasons or various other ancient cultures. In fact the month of January did not even exist until around 700 B.C. (source: A History of the New Year) And not all countries celebrate New Years at the same time… because people in different parts of the world use different calendars.