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NFriik t1_j2e52gv wrote

But... That's not an arbitrary time. It's how long our planet takes for a full revolution around the sun. That's the opposite of arbitrary.

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leekee_bum OP t1_j2e6byq wrote

Ah yes but why have we chosen December 31st of all days to be the last? At midnight too. It could have been at the end of June at noon, it wouldn't have made a difference.

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NFriik t1_j2e7ofx wrote

Well, true, the names of the months (and their existence) are pretty much arbitrary. But if you define a year to be the time it takes earth to revolve once around the sun, it makes sense to celebrate the end of one revolution at the end of the year. Why December 31? No idea, but my first guess would be that it's closely related to the winter solstice. We could've just as well defined the last day of the year to be the day of winter or summer solstice, for example. So yeah, the specific date is arbitrary.

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leekee_bum OP t1_j2e82ya wrote

Yes that was what I was referring to. The length of the year is not arbitrary. Just a few chosen moments.

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NFriik t1_j2e9c3j wrote

Then I guess I misunderstood lol.

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Nex1984 t1_j2eb8le wrote

You have no idea what 'arbitrary' means do you?

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leekee_bum OP t1_j2ebmu5 wrote

Based on random choice.

Why did we chose that particular spot in earths orbit relative to the sun to determine the starting point of a new year?

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BigAgamin729 t1_j2edm3u wrote

Bro it’s not that deep just have fun like everyone else does you will enjoy life a lot more

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leekee_bum OP t1_j2ee91e wrote

I am having fun lol. I made a meme about it. If I was serious I would have posted this to a political discussion sub reddit.

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