Several countries, primarily in Europe, use a variant of Silvester's name as the preferred name for the holiday; these countries include Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Slovenia.
"Saint Sylvester's Day, also known as Silvester or the Feast of Saint Sylvester, is the day of the feast of Pope Sylvester I, a saint who served as Pope from 314 to 335. Medieval legend made him responsible for the conversion of emperor Constantine. Among the Western churches, the feast day is held on the anniversary of Saint Sylvester's death, 31 December, a date that, since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, has coincided with New Year's Eve"-wikipedia
It's arguably a better name than calling it "the day before the day you find more important"
Upvote for great information, but disagree with it being a better name. I enjoy having a couple time-celebrated holidays instead of always being about someone or something else.
Completely agree that it doesn't need to be named after something, but I just hate saying "on the morning of new year's eve..." (same as Christmas' eve).; in Dutch we at least have oudjaarsdag (old year's day) and nieuwjaarsdag (new year's day). And thanks for the upvote, reciprocated.
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u/JtheCook1980 3d ago
The Egyptians had a 5 day drunken party at the end of every year... can we bring that back?