Why was the start of the new year moved from the spring to January 1st?

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Your particular answer is toward the bottom.

“It was Julius Caesar (hence the Julian calendar) who departed from centuries of agricultural custom, declaring the first of January the first day of the new year.…January 1st was the day when new consuls were chosen; a year was customarily given the names of these important rulers.”

The Christian New Year

The spread of Christianity provided the next impetus for calendar-reform. Modifications had narrowed the gap between seasons and holidays, but by 1582 the Julian year was 10 days out of alignment with the solar year. Pope Gregory XIII, responding to the yearly frustrations of fixing the date for Easter, the highest festival of the Christian year, promulgated a calendar based more strongly on the sun than the moon, employing a single leap day every four years to keep it in alignment.

Most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar quickly, with Protestant and Eastern European countries following more slowly. Historic divisions between Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy meant that the Eastern Rite continued to follow the Julian calendar (to this day, Western and Eastern Easters only occasionally occur on the same Sunday). Russia remained Julian until the 1917 revolution. British subjects went to bed the night of Wednesday, September 2, 1752, and awoke the next morning on Thursday, September 14. ”

:)

I know all that. My question is why was the change made to January 1?

Obviously the first poster does not know.

I’m sure it had something to do with alcohol.

and sex.
At least I hope so.

You mean, why did Julius Caesar pick that day? Why was it that day that consuls were chosen?

That, I have no fucking clue. :)

Asmonet- Caesar didn’t move the new year to January. That was done in the second century B.C.E., regardless of what your source says. Julius Caesar reformed the calendar by changing a year from 355 days to 365 days with a leap day added between the 23rd & 24th of February every third year (he extended 46 B.C.E. to 445 days to catch up. Your source incorrectly lists the year as being 45 BC). He also shuffled the number of days in each month to the way it is now.
Most of the world didn’t observe Jan. 1 as the start of the new year until fairly recently.

And I have no fucking clue why either. That’s what I’m wondering about. Why January 1. Why not on a solstice or something?

@Astro: Thanks for the corrections! :) I’ll see if I can find something more reliable.

Just watch it! I’ll let you slide this time but know that I am watching you!

Ancient Rome is my expertise.

@AstroChuck: Impressive, for a six year old. ;)