In cultures which traditionally or currently use calendars other than the Gregorian, New Year's Day is often also an important celebration. Some countries concurrently use the Gregorian and another calendar. New Year's Day in the alternative calendar attracts alternative celebrations of New year.
- Chinese New Year is celebrated in many countries around the world. It is the first day of the lunar calendar and is corrected for the solar every three years. The holiday normally falls between 20 January and 20 February. The holiday is celebrated with food, families, red envelopes, and many other red things for good luck. Lion and dragon dances, drums, fireworks, firecrackers, and other types of entertainment fill the streets on this day.
- Tamil New Year (Puthandu) is celebrated on 13th April or 14th April. Traditionally, it is celebrated as Chiththirai Thirunaal in parts of Tamilnadu to mark the event of Sun entering into Aries. Panchangam (almanac), is read in temples to mark the start of the Year.
- Thai New Year is celebrated on 13th April or 14th April and is called Songkran in the local language. People usually come out to splash water at each other to reduce the heat, of which is the most intense during this time of the year in Thailand.
- Hindu New Year falls at the time and date the Sun enters Aries on the Hindu calendar. Normally on 14 April or 15 April depending on the Leap year. The new year is celebrated by paying respect to elders in the family and by seeking their blessings. They also exchange tokens of good wishes for a healthy and prosperous year ahead.
- Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. Nowruz has been celebrated for over 3,000 years by the related cultural continent. The holiday is also celebrated and observed by many parts of Central Asia, South Asia, Northwestern China, Crimea and some groups in the Balkans. As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday and having significance amongst the Zoroastrian ancestors of modern Iranians, the same time is celebrated in the Indian sub-continent as the new year. The moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and Iranian families gather together to observe the rituals.
- Islamic The Hijri New Year, also known as Islamic new year (Arabic: رأس السنة الهجرية Ras as-Sanah al-Hijriyah) is the day that marks the beginning of a new Islamic calendar year. New Year moves from year to year because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar.The first day of the year is observed on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar.
- Israel is one country that uses the Gregorian calendar but does not formally celebrate the New Year's holiday — mainly due to objections by religious parties on the holiday's non-Jewish origins.[citation needed] However, there are Israeli Jews who partake in some sort of celebration. The date of the Jewish new year is celebrated on Rosh Hashanah no matter where the location.
- Korean New Year called Seolnal is the first day of the lunar calendar. Koreans also celebrate solar New Year's Day on January 1 each year, following the Gregorian Calendar. People get a day off that day while have minimum three days off on Lunar New Year. People celebrate New Year's Day by preparing food for the ancestors' spirits, visiting ancestors' graves, then playing Korean games such as Yutnol'i {say: yun-no-ree} with families. Young children give respect to their parents, grandparents, relatives, and other elders by bowing down in a traditional way and are given good wishes and some money by the elders. Families enjoy the new years also by counting down until 12:00 a.m., which would be New Year's Day.
- Ethiopian New Year called Enqutatash. It is celebrated on September 11 or September 12 based on the leap year. Ethiopia uses its own ancient calendar. However some say it has connection with Julian calendar. The new year is the end of the summer season and where you see natural flowers every where in the country.
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