Fancy celebrating two new year’s days instead of one?

Up until 1752, the Julian calendar was used, and the old ‘Hen Galan’ (translated, roughly, into English as: ‘the old first day’) was marked as the date to usher in the new year. After 1752, the Julian calendar was abolished, and in its place – the Gregorian calendar was adopted and eventually become the standard (although this took many years for every village and town to adopt).

This year, 2019, January 13th is the date. So today, we can (unofficially) celebrate the new year, again! Parts of Pembrokeshire in West Wales, such as the Gwaun valley, still announce the advent of the new year, according to the old Julian calendar – ‘yr hen galan’.