Serbian (Old) New Year
14 January 2026 — Happy New Year, the old-calendar way! Cheers under the stars!
The Serbian (Old) New Year is celebrated on the night leading into 14 January. It is 1 January in the Julian calendar, which the Serbian Orthodox Church still follows. The Gregorian calendar, used by most of the world, is 13 days ahead of the Julian one, so the two dates do not match. The holiday is mostly a folk celebration: families and friends gather for a festive meal, sing, play music and set off fireworks. In some homes a round loaf with a hidden coin is cut, and whoever finds it is said to have a lucky year. In Serbia the date coincides with the feast of St Basil the Great, which churches using the old calendar mark on 14 January. In Bulgaria, St Basil’s Day (Vasilyovden) and the Surva festivities fall on 1 January. It is not tied to any astronomical event: the gap comes from the Julian year being slightly longer than the tropical (solar) year, which builds up over the centuries and separates the two calendars.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure made of light dots and thin connecting lines, like a constellation, walking across the sky and blowing a trumpet
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