Public
New Year's Day
First day of the calendar year
Celebration date
January 1
Geographic reach
52 countries
Celebrated in 52 countries
Pick a country to see its date, traditions, and customs.
🇩🇿
Algeria
Jan 1
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Angola
Jan 1
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Benin
Jan 1
🇧🇼
Botswana
Jan 1
🇧🇫
Burkina Faso
Jan 1
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Burundi
Jan 1
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Cape Verde
Jan 1
🇨🇲
Cameroon
Jan 1
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Central African Republic
Jan 1
🇹🇩
Chad
Jan 1
🇰🇲
Comoros
Jan 1
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Congo
Jan 1
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DRCongo
Jan 1
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Côte d'Ivoire
Jan 1
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Djibouti
Jan 1
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Egypt
Jan 1
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Equatorial Guinea
Jan 1
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Eritrea
Jan 1
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Eswatini
Jan 1
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Gabon
Jan 1
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Gambia
Jan 1
🇬ðŸ‡
Ghana
Jan 1
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Guinea
Jan 1
🇬🇼
Guinea-Bissau
Jan 1
🇰🇪
Kenya
Jan 1
🇱🇸
Lesotho
Jan 1
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Liberia
Jan 1
🇱🇾
Libya
Jan 1
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Madagascar
Jan 1
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Malawi
Jan 1
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Mali
Jan 1
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Mauritania
Jan 1
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Mauritius
Jan 1
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Morocco
Jan 1
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Mozambique
Jan 1
🇳🇦
Namibia
Jan 1
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Niger
Jan 1
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Nigeria
Jan 1
🇷🇼
Rwanda
Jan 1
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Sao Tome and Principe
Jan 1
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Senegal
Jan 1
🇸🇨
Seychelles
Jan 1
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Sierra Leone
Jan 1
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Somalia
Jan 1
🇿🇦
South Africa
Jan 1
🇸🇸
South Sudan
Jan 1
🇹🇿
Tanzania
Jan 1
🇹🇬
Togo
Jan 1
🇹🇳
Tunisia
Jan 1
🇺🇬
Uganda
Jan 1
🇿🇲
Zambia
Jan 1
🇿🇼
Zimbabwe
Jan 1
No countries match that search.
What this holiday commemorates
- 1921 Milton Margai graduates from Fourah Bay College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, becoming the first Protectorate native to complete studies... · Sierra Leone
- 1928 Milton Margai returns to Sierra Leone as the Protectorate's first indigenous medical doctor and enters the Colonial Medical Service. · Sierra Leone
- 1929 Abbé Fulbert Youlou enters the Petit Séminaire of Brazzaville, beginning formal Catholic religious training that shapes his later political identity. · Republic of the Congo
- 1941 Cyrille Adoula graduates from St. Joseph's Institute in Léopoldville, completing five years of secondary studies. · Democratic Republic of the Congo
- 1947 Milton Margai appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for pioneering maternal healthcare and rural public health campaigns. · Sierra Leone
- 1948 Milton Margai publishes "Welfare Work in a Secret Society" in African Affairs, documenting collaboration with the Sande society to modernize maternal... · Sierra Leone
- 1950 Milton Margai retires from the Colonial Medical Service to dedicate himself fully to political organization and constitutional reform. · Sierra Leone
- 1952 Cyrille Adoula accepts a senior position at the Belgian Congo Central Bank, becoming the first African to secure a major post there. · Democratic Republic of the Congo
- 1954 Cyrille Adoula joins the Belgian Socialist Party and represents the Action Socialiste in Léopoldville. · Democratic Republic of the Congo
- 1958 Milton Margai narrowly defeats Albert Margai in an internal SLPP leadership contest that exposes ideological divisions within the independence movemen... · Sierra Leone
- 1959 Milton Margai forms a United Front coalition that reunites major political factions ahead of independence negotiations with Britain. · Sierra Leone
- 1959 Milton Margai knighted as a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his leadership during the decolonization process. · Sierra Leone
- 1960 Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Ghana Armed Forces following officer training at Sandhurst. · Ghana
- 1960 Navin Ramgoolam enters Royal College Curepipe, the elite public school that educates the island's administrative and political leadership. · Mauritius
- 1962 Milton Margai oversees constitutional amendments that restrict citizenship to people of negro African descent, reshaping Sierra Leonean nationality la... · Sierra Leone
- 1962 Milton Margai lays the foundation stone for the Milton Margai School for the Blind in Freetown. · Sierra Leone
- 1964 Kenya Army soldiers at Lanet barracks mutiny and demand rapid Africanization of the officer corps after independence. · Kenya
- 1964 Milton Margai's legacy enters national currency circulation as Sierra Leone introduces the leone featuring his portrait on coins and banknotes. · Sierra Leone
- 1966 Abbé Fulbert Youlou publishes 'J'accuse la Chine' in Madrid, warning against expanding Chinese communist influence in Central Africa. · Republic of the Congo
- 1967 Milton Margai's fragile brokerage model collapses into instability as disputed elections trigger successive military coups between 1967 and 1968. · Sierra Leone
- 1972 Joseph Murumbi co-founds African Heritage Ltd. alongside his wife Sheila and the American designer Alan Donovan, creating the continent's first pan-Af... · Kenya
- 1977 Kuaima Riruako returns to South West Africa using a South African passport, becoming the first prominent political exile to return under such terms. · Namibia
- 1982 Joseph Murumbi suffers a severe fall at his home that causes permanent nerve damage, leaving him dependent on a wheelchair in his final years. · Kenya
- 1985 Equatorial Guinea accedes to the Central African Monetary Union, replacing the ekwele with the CFA franc to stabilize its national economy. · Equatorial Guinea
- 1991 Navin Ramgoolam assumes the leadership of the Mauritius Labour Party, taking over a party in severe decline behind Jugnauth's MSM and Bérenger's MMM. · Mauritius
- 1991 Abbé Fulbert Youlou's historical legacy receives formal rehabilitation during the Sovereign National Conference that dismantles the Marxist-Leninist s... · Congo
- 1995 Kuaima Riruako takes his seat in the National Assembly of Namibia as a DTA member, having won election in 1994. · Namibia
- 2003 Joseph Murumbi's archival and artistic legacy secured through the establishment of the Murumbi Trust with funding from the Ford Foundation, ensuring c... · Kenya
- 2015 Kuaima Riruako succeeded as Paramount Chief of the OvaHerero by advocate Vekuii Rukoro, who is formally inaugurated to continue the reparations campai... · Namibia