In with the new

　　AS New Year nears, people look forward to starting again.

　　Kids get very excited about the holiday. "New Year's Day means a day off, a big dinner and great fun with friends," said 14-year-old Cai Yun from Beijing.

　　But New Year's Day used to mean more than just a good time. In ancient times, people needed to mark time. They had to know when they should start planting crops (庄稼) and when they should harvest (收割). But different peoples had different ways of marking time. Some based their calendar (日历) on the Sun; some based it on the moon. Others used both.

　　In Syria (叙利亚) in the Mid East New Year is at harvest time in October. In Uganda (乌干达) in Africa a year lasts six of our months. The people have their holiday at the beginning of the rains, which happen twice a year. The Inuits (爱斯基摩人) of North America don't even have a fixed holiday. They celebrate New Year when the first snow falls.

　　So you see, New Year is a different kind of holiday in different parts of the world.