January 10, 2020
Numerous Iranian officials made a point of wishing the world’s Christians a Happy New Year for 2020, although New Year’s Day is not a Christian holiday. The calendar dates from the Roman era. July is named for Julius Caesar and August for Augustus Caesar. The modernized Roman calendar is now used as the standard calendar in every country but Iran, Afghanistan, Nepal and Ethiopia. (The last does use a Christian calendar.) The most recent country to adopt the modernized Roman calendar was Saudi Arabia, which made it the official calendar in 2016.