10 things celebrated on January 1st besides New Year

1. The official birthday of all racehorses – they become a year older today regardless of the date they were actually born.
2. Today is a Bodacious Bonzer Bottler Day. A Bonzer Bottler Day is any day where the numerical value of the date and the month are the same, ie 1^st January, 2^nd February, 3^rd March and so on. If any of these dates happen to coincide with a public holiday, as January 1^st always does, it is a Bodacious Bonzer Bottler Day. If you're celebrating your birthday today (or on any other Bonzer Bottler Day) then you are a Bonzer Bottler Baby! Sometimes referred to as Party Party Day.
3. Independence Day in Haiti, Cameroon, Sudan, Western Samoa and Brunei
4. Emancipation Day, a US observance of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, abolishing slavery in the US.
5. The Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus Christ, marking the day that Jesus would, according to Jewish law, have been circumcised and formally named, eight days after his birth.
6. National Bloody Mary Day: vodka and tomato juice, seasoned with lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce and salt and pepper.
7. Needle and thread ceremony at Queen’s College Oxford. Each member of the college is given a needle and thread with the words, “Take this and be thrifty”. 
8. The Eighth Day of Christmas, when my true love sent to me eight maids a milking (and the rest!)
9. Feast Day of Saint Basil of Aix, a doctor of the church, celebrated today by the Eastern Orthodox church. People celebrate him by baking Basil Cakes and adding a coin to the mix. For Greek children it's like Christmas and Halloween rolled into one – St Basil brings them gifts, and they go out knocking on doors to get gifts from their neighbours. Farm animals are specially groomed, for St Basil is said to inspect them on his feast day.
10. Bill and Melinda Gates celebrate their wedding anniversary (they married in 1994).