Julius Caesar thought it would be appropriate for January, Janus's namesake month, to be the doorway to a new year, and when he created the Julian calendar, he made January 1 the first day of The Old New Year, or the Orthodox New Year, is an informal traditional holiday, celebrated as the start of the New Year by the Julian calendar. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the Old New Year falls on January 14 in the Gregorian calendar. New Julian and Gregorian calendar: what are the similarities and differences? 05.12.2023. On September 1, 2023, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church will switch to the New Julian calendar. At first, it may seem that this is a regular Gregorian calendar, which in our era is 13 days ahead of the "old" Julian In 46 BCE Julius Caesar introduced more changes, though the Julian calendar, as it became known, retained January 1 as the year's opening date. With the expansion of the Roman Empire , the use of the Julian calendar also spread. The Julian Calendar was off by 11 minutes every solar year, which added up and made us lose 10 days by the year 1582. The Gregorian Calendar is much more accurate and is only off by 26 seconds every solar year, which will eventually add up to make us lose 1 day by the year 4909. Introducing Leap Years A common year in the Julian calendar has 365 days divided into 12 months. In the Julian calendar, every four years is a leap year, with a leap day added to the month of February. At the time, February was the last month of the year, and Leap Day was February 24. February 30 Was a Real Date Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7. Orthodox New Year, also known as Old New Year, is celebrated on January 14. Orthodox Easter is celebrated on May 2nd, 2021. Other Articles that may interest you: The Jewish Calendar The Islamic Calendar The Revised Julian calendar, or less formally the new calendar and also known as the Milanković calendar, is a calendar proposed in 1923 by the Serbian scientist Milutin Milanković as a more accurate alternative to both Julian and Gregorian calendars. 82yD.