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When does the New Year Really Start?

God Set the New Year in Exodus in 12

Exodus 12
1	And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2	This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

This was not January 1 and it was not at Rosh Hashana. The Jewish people start their year at Rosh Hashana in the seventh month that occurs in September or October. Some people say "first" means head therefore it's not really the beginning of the year. This is wrong. The Hebrew word rishon means first, in place, time or rank. The scriptures are what matter and the first month according to God's calendar is in March or April. This also follows the world, weather and science where the plants start to grow in the spring.

Jesus Fulfilled the Law Instead of Doing Away With It

Matthew 5
17	Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18	For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Heaven and earth have not passed away yet and God's standard for our calendar has not, either.

The Barley Harvest Does not Define the New Year

Some people believe the barley harvest is tied to the new year. Leviticus 23 details the feast of the first fruits, Shavous, Shavuot or Pentecost as given in Leviticus 23.

9	And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
10	Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
11	And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12	And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.
13	And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.
14	And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15	And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
16	Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
17	Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.
18	And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.
19	Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20	And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.
21	And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

Nowhere here does it say to start the new year based on the date of a harvest or the bringing of the first fruits. Furthermore, the harvest in the southern hemisphere occurs approximately six month earlier or later than the northern hemisphere. Even in the northern hemisphere barley it harvested at different times based on longitude and latitude. A famine could wipe out a barley harvest altogether. What then , would the year start months later when some crop of any kind could grow? What about hunter nomads who lived in places where crops were not grown? The barley system would be unreliable.

God Gave Us the Sun and Moon for Signs and Seasons

Genesis 1
14	And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15	And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16	And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

The sun and moon were not to tell the future. They were for seasons. Our seasons and our years should be related the sun and the moon. From the days of Moses, the Jews started the new year on the day that had the first visible new moon after the spring equinox. The spring equinox is around March 20 each year. It is the time each year when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are the same length. The new moon from an astronomical standpoint is when the moon is in conjunction with the sun so that its dark side is toward the earth. The time NASA shows the new moon is not when it is visible (NASA's new moon chart). To be a sign for seasons the new moon must be visible. God had special sabbaths mentioned in Leviticus 23. No matter what day of the week some days fell on, they were considered sabbaths. This included the first day day of unleavened bread, the seventh day of unleavened bread, the feat of trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), the day of atonement (Yom Kippur), the first day of the feast of tabernacles and seven days later which is the day after the feast is over. Today, the Jewish calendar year may be moved if two sabbaths occur together. God never commanded the calendar to be moved to prevent adjacent or back to back sabbaths. If New Years is celebrated it should be in the spring on the first visible new moon after the spring equinox. The current calendar is just one more way of dumbing down Christianity.