January 1

January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year. 364 days remain until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the year.

“The first rule is that you can't really know anything if you just remember isolated facts and try and bang 'em back. If the facts don't hang together on a latticework of theory, you don't have them in a usable form.”

Charlie Munger

Born today

• Charlie Munger, 1924, American investor, businessman

• Ricardo Duchesne, 1953, Canadian sociologist and historian

• J.D. Salinger, 1919, American writer

"Multiculturalism dilutes the cultural achievements of the West, instead of celebrating them."

Ricardo Duchesne

Observances

• Basil the Great (Eastern Orthodox Church)

• Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the Octave Day of Christmas, considered a holy day of obligation in some countries (Catholic Church); and its related observances:

  • World Day of Peace

• Earliest day on which Handsel Monday can fall, while January 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of the year (Scotland)

• Second day of Hogmanay (Scotland) December 31-January 1, in some cases until January 2.

• The last day of Kwanzaa (African-Americans)

• The eighth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)

• Constitution Day (Italy)

• Dissolution of Czechoslovakia-related observances:

  • Day of the Establishment of the Slovak Republic (Slovakia)

  • Restoration Day of the Independent Czech State (Czech Republic)

• Emancipation Day (United States)

• Euro Day (European Union)

• Flag Day (Lithuania) commemorates raising of the Lithuanian flag on Gediminas' Tower in 1919

• Founding Day (Taiwan) commemorates the establishment of the Provisional Government in Nanjing

• Global Family Day

• Independence Day (Brunei, Cameroon, Haiti, Sudan)

• International Nepali Dhoti and Nepali Topi Day

• Jump-up Day (Montserrat)

• Kalpataru Day (Ramakrishna Movement)

• Kamakura Ebisu, January 1–3 (Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan)

• National Bloody Mary Day (United States)

• National Tree Planting Day (Tanzania)

• New Year's Day (Gregorian calendar)

  • Japanese New Year

  • Novy God Day (Russia)

  • Sjoogwachi (Okinawa Islands)

• Polar Bear Swim Day (Canada and United States)

• Public Domain Day (multiple countries)

• Triumph of the Revolution (Cuba)

• National Hangover Day (US)

• Mummer’s Parade (US)

• Bonza Bottler Day (US)

• Haitian Independence Day

• Ellis Island Day (US)