New Year ' s Day is one of the few universal public holidays in the world , when most people do not need to go to work . While some of us celebrate it only over a day and a night , for others it may be a long festival lasting for about one week . In the last thirty years businessmen have taken the opportunity to promote more goods and to hold lots of end - of - year sales . The majority of people would then take their time to go shopping with high spirits .