The first day of the new year is celebrated with religious, cultural, and social observances around the world. It is usually marked by rites and ceremonies that symbolize casting off the old year and rejoicing in the new.

Most of the world recognizes January 1 as the start of a new year because the Gregorian calendar, from its papal origin in 1582, has become the international reference for treaties, corporate contracts, and other legal documents. Nevertheless, numerous religious and national calendars have been retained:

• In the Persian calendar (used in Iran and Afghanistan) New Year's Day falls on the spring equinox (March 20 or 21 in the Gregorian calendar).
  
  
• The more widely employed Islamic (Hijri) calendar is based on 12 lunar months of 29 or 30 days; thus, the Islamic New Year's Day gradually regresses through the longer Gregorian calendar.
  
  
• The Hindu new year starts on the day following the first new moon on or after the spring equinox.
  
  
• The Chinese new year begins at sunset on the new moon in the sign of Aquarius (late January or early February).
  
  
• The Hebrew calendar is based on 12 lunar months (13 in certain years) of 29 or 30 days; the Jewish New Year's Day, or Rosh Hashanah, can fall anytime from September 6 to October 5 in the Gregorian calendar

Assign your students to investigate the similarities and differences among the variety of ways that people in different countries celebrate their traditional holidays and New Year.

Assign a different country from the listing below to each student (you can add other countries, but some countries will still be duplicated).

• Rosh Hashanah (Jewish)
• Muharram (Muslim)
• Yuan Tan (Chinese)
• Shougatsu (Japanese)
• Nouruz (Iranian)
• Tet Nguryen Dan (Vietnamese)
• S Novym Godom! (Russia)

Students should create a report of at least 100 words or a PowerPoint of at least six slides that cites at least three resources.

These reports/presentations should address the following examples of essential questions for critical thinking (you can create or substitute others):

• What are three of the most important holidays and dates of your country (include New Year)?
  
  
• How does the difference in calendars affect the dates of holiday celebrations?
  
  
• How are these dates related to the history or religion of the country?
  
  
• How are these holidays the same of different than those we celebrate in the U.S.?
  
  
• Which of the holidays do you like the most and why?

Primary: Type the name of the country you are assigned and the word "holidays" directly after the county name in the key word option search box.

Alternative: Search terms can also be used from those listed above.

Use our custom ProQuest models for written or PowerPoint reports written and PowerPoint-style reports.

All over the world, people welcome the celebration of the new year. It is one of the oldest of all holidays. Most New Year celebrations focus on family and friends. It's also a time to reflect on the past year and resolve to create a better life in the in the New Year.

In the United States, we celebrate the New Year on the first day of January. However, not all New Year celebrations take place on the same day or even in the same way. Some countries of the world use a different calendar—most of the western world relies on the Gregorian (Christian) Calendar that denotes January 1 as the start of the New Year. China and Israel keep a lunar calendar that is based on the movement of the moon around the Earth. Some countries celebrate in the spring when new crops begin to grow, or in autumn when crops are harvested.

• Rosh Hashanah (Jewish)
• Muharram (Moslem)
• Diwali (India)
• Yuan Tan (Chinese)
• Shougatsu (Japanese)
• Nouruz (Iranian)
• Tet Nguryen Dan (Vietnamese)
• S Novym Godom! (Russia)

eLibrary Elementary BookCarts are flexible lesson plans for inquiry-based learning activities. Instead of sending students out to search eLibrary Elementary, and often waste time in finding and selecting topic appropriate resources, assign students to open a BookCart learning activity.

You'll find that this saves frustration and classroom time that can be used more effectively for learning and presentation. You can also include information in each Cart that helps students to know what to do with the resources included in the Cart:

• Essential Questions for Critical Thinking that make students think rather than just look for facts.
  
  
• Student Directions that list what students are expected to do with the resources.
  
  
• Call numbers to correlated print resources that can also be used in their research.
  
  
• Quizzes, when appropriate, to assess student knowledge of content.

ProQuest has created a BookCart learning activity for your students to use: "New Year Celebrations around the World."

This virtual activity includes four examples of essential questions for critical thinking that you can assign to your students. You can even create more of these or substitute others that challenge your students. Here are the instructions for you to copy this BookCart into your local collection for students to use:

• Logon to the eLibrary Elementary TEACHER EDITION.
• Click the BOOCART ADMIN link to the right.
• Click the PROQUEST CARTS tab.
• Type "New Year Celebrations around the World" in the Search box
• Click the COPY icon in the ACTIONS column to the right of this title.
• Click RETURN TO MY LOCAL CARTS.

This BookCart can easily be edited for most effective use:

• Click the new BookCart Title with the prefix "COPT OF".
• Delete "Copy of" and then type your first and last name in the AUTHOR boxes.
• Type your initials in the EMAIL box next to Author.
• Edit the sample of STUDENT DIRECTIONS in the DESCRIPTION box.
• Option: type call numbers for print resources related to this topic.
• Scroll down and click SAVE.
• Click My Local Carts tab to see your newly edited and ready to use learning activity.

Assign students to select a country other than the U.S. and research its holidays, including New Year's Day.

Students should create a report of at least 100 words or a PowerPoint of at least five slides that cites at least three resources. These reports/presentations should address the following examples of essential questions for critical thinking (you can create or substitute others):

• What are three of the most important holidays and dates of your country (include New Year)?
  
  
• How are these dates related to the history or religion of the country?
  
  
• How are these holidays the same of different than those we celebrate in the U.S.?
  
  
• Which of the holidays do you like the most and why?

Primary #1: Type the phrase "Japanese holidays" in the Search box

#2: Type the phrase "(your country) holidays" in the Search box Use our custom ProQuest models for written or PowerPoint reports written and PowerPoint-style reports.