January 1. The date of New Year's Day seems so fundamental that it's almost as though nature ordained it. But New Year's Day is a civil event. Its date isn't precisely fixed by any natural seasonal marker. Our modern celebration of New Year's Day stems from an ancient Roman custom, the feast of the Roman god Janus - god of doorways and beginnings.
The name for the month of January also comes from Janus, who was depicted as having two faces. One face of Janus looked back into the past, and the other peered forward to the future.
4 comment(s):
Uhm...
If Our year starts in Jauary because of the Romans, why are our 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th months named SEPTEMber, OCTOber, NOVEMber, and DECEMber?
Actually throughout the republic, the Roman civil year began on March 1. That's why September (month seven) is our ninth month -- similarly for October (octo=8), November (novem=9) and December (decem=10). January 1 as the beginning of the civil year is a later innovation.
I thought that what happened is the early days of the Empire they "removed" a couple of months and added new ones for Julius Caesar (July) and Caesar Augustus (August), so they shifted the start of the year to January.
Last anonymous: No, they renamed Quintilis and Sextillis July and August- they were always there. The months added were January and February.
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