【明報專訊】Civilisations around the world have been celebrating the start of each new year for at least four millennia. The earliest recorded festivities in honour of a new year's arrival date back some 4,000 years to ancient Babylon (巴比倫). For the Babylonians, the first new moon following the vernal equinox — the day in late March with an equal amount of sunlight and darkness — heralded (預示) the start of a new year. Today, most New Year's festivities begin on December 31 (New Year's Eve), the last day of the Gregorian calendar, and continue into the early hours of January 1 (New Year's Day).