Within Medieval Europe, January 1st was not widely celebrated as the secular New Year’s Day holiday it is regarded as during the modern day. Instead, January 1st was observed as the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus Christ in Christian liturgical calendars, a date which commemorates the circumcision of Christ, which according to Jewish custom, would have occurred 8 days after his birth with December 25th being counted as the first day. Although the Gregorian calendar eventually shifted focus toward celebrating the secular New Year on January 1st, this date was intrinsically tied to Christian religious observances for centuries. January 1st was not the standard across Europe during early development of the secular New Year however as the New Year was celebrated upon different dates in various parts of Europe depending upon the local traditions of the region. Some areas celebrated the New Year on March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, aligning it with the spring equinox and the start of new agricultural cycles whilst others celebrated upon December 25th, to coincide with Christmas and the birth of Christ. When Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582, January 1st was officially reinstated and recognized as New Year’s Day. This calendar reformation standardized timekeeping across Catholic countries, and over time, Protestant countries adopted the practice as well. The decision to place the New Year on January 1st was in part due to pragmatism as it simplified administrative and financial matters for the state, but also symbolic and ideologic, as it connected the start of the year with the earlier Roman calendar tradition of honoring Janus, the Ancient Roman deity of transitions, and marking the beginning of new political terms under the Julian calendar. Though modern day New Year celebrations are largely secular, the date of January 1st carries the weight of centuries old traditions, from Roman rituals to Christian observances, blending the sacred and the secular