Happy New Year:
I get a bit philosophical towards the end of the year. I was interested in knowing why we celebrate the beginning of the New Year with a party instead of celebrating the New Year at Staples with a new calendar and next years stationary. I was also interested in knowing the history of why New Years begins on January 1.
So to begin this story, did you ever wake up on a cold January morning anxiously waiting for March to arrive? Well, if you lived back in the days when the Romans developed the calendar you would have gotten your wish. The Romans began their New Year in March, which was the spring equinox. Now before you get too excited about skipping January and February, those cold and sometimes snowy 60 days did exist, they just decided not to include them as months. The calendar stopped in December and did not begin again until March. You still would have paid full price for a 12-month calendar at Staples but you would have only received 10 months.
The Romans even named the first four months of the year after Gods or concepts. March was named after Mars the God of War and agriculture. April was derived from Aprilis, which is derived from Aperire, which in Latin means “to open”That may have been in reference to the opening of buds on flowers in the spring. Another theory is that April is named after Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. If this is true then that would throw our entire calendar off since Valentine's Day is in February. May’s history was derived from Maius or Maia, which is named after the Greek fertility goddess Maia. She was Mercury’s mom and had a reputation as a good mother. It is interesting that May also happens to be the day that we celebrate Mother's Day but this is just a coincidence. Maia is also known as the Goddess of Spring and Growth. June was named after Juno, which was the wife of the God Jupiter. Juno was also the goddess of marriage and childbirth. Coincidentally this is one of the most popular months for weddings.
I’m assuming they ran out of ideas for the next six months. Instead of honoring a God or a concept they basically just named them five through ten. The fifth month or what we fondly call July was originally called Quintilius, until they changed the name to July in honor of Julius Caesar and his birthday, August was originally called Sextillius for the six month until they changed our warmest month of the year to August for Augustus Caesar. In the eighth century BC, Augustus, who was Julius successor as well as his great nephew and eventually adopted son, got a month named after him after defeating Marc Antony and Cleopatra and by also becoming the emperor of Rome. September was the seventh month and comes from the old Roman word Septem.
October was the eight month, followed by November for nine and December for the 10th month.
In 713 BC they completed the calendar by adding Januarius to the 11th month or what we fondly call January and Februum or February was added as the last month. January was named after the two faced god Janus. This was the God that could look back to the past and towards the future at the same time. This will work out appropriately since we now start the year in January. So you may want to imagine that January not only looks toward to the new year but also back on the past year. Februm was derived from the word purification. This was the time for the Purification or Forgiveness Festival, when people were forgiven for their past misdeeds as preparation for spring. They only needed 28 days in February until they realized that once every four years they needed to add an extra day, which we now call Leap Year.
You are most likely wondering, “how did January go from the 11th month to the first month?" Well, whenever they had an election in Rome, the Consul, which is similar to our President, would assume office on March 15, which was the beginning of their year. However, in 153 BC, the Consul could not assume office until January 1. So instead of just being late for work by 10 months they just moved the beginning of the year to January 1. That’s some power, isn’t it? Can you imagine coming into work on Tuesday instead of Monday morning? Instead of being reprimanded for missing a day of work, the boss just changed the first day of the week to Tuesday.
So this is why January became the first month. However, New Year’s Day was still observed on March 25 well into the Middle Ages. That changed in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII tweaked the Julian calendar and created the modern Gregorian calendar.
March 25 was the Feast of the Annunciation when the Angel Gabriel told Mary she would have a baby boy. This was always associated with the first month of the year. With the start of the Gregorian calendar, the New Month was moved from the Feast of the Annunciation to the Feast of the Circumcision, which took place 8 days after the baby Jesus’ birth.
So there you have it … the history of our modern calendar. In theory I guess it does’’t matter which month begins the first of the year. The important thing is that we make the most of every day.
Happy New Year! Joel
Happy New Year: Mimi kupata kidogo kifalsafa kuelekea mwisho wa mwaka. "Nilikuwa na hamu ya kujua kwa nini tunasherehekea mwanzo wa Mwaka Mpya na chama badala ya kusherehekea Mwaka Mpya katika Staples na kalenda mpya na miaka ijayo imara. """ Pia, nilitaka kujua sababu ya mwaka mpya kuanza Januari 1. Kwa hivyo, kwa kuanza hadithi hii, umewahi kuamka asubuhi ya baridi ya Januari ukingojea kwa wasiwasi Machi ifikie? Kama ungeishi wakati wa Waroma, ungepata tamaa yako. Waroma walianza mwaka wao mpya mwezi Machi, ambayo ilikuwa siku ya usawa wa jua na jua. Kwa hivyo, kabla ya kufurahiya sana juu ya kuruka Januari na Februari, siku hizo 60 za baridi na wakati mwingine zenye theluji zilikuwepo, waliamua tu kuzisoma kama miezi. Kalenda hiyo ilikoma Desemba na haikuanza tena hadi Machi. Kwa mfano, unaweza kununua kalenda ya miezi 12 kwenye Staples, lakini utapata tu miezi 10. Waroma hata waliita miezi minne ya kwanza ya mwaka kwa majina ya miungu au dhana. Mwezi wa Machi ulipewa jina la Mars, mungu wa vita na kilimo. Aprili ni jina la asili la Aprilis, ambalo linatokana na Aperire, ambayo katika Kilatini inamaanisha kufungua, ambayo inaweza kuwa inahusu kufungua kwa buds kwenye maua wakati wa majira ya kuchipua. Nadharia nyingine ni kwamba Aprili alipewa jina la Aphrodite, mungu-mke wa upendo. Ikiwa hii ni kweli basi hiyo ingeangusha kalenda yetu yote tangu Siku ya wapendanao ni mwezi Februari. Historia ya Mei ilitokana na Maius au Maia, ambayo inaitwa kwa jina la mungu-mke wa uzazi wa Kigiriki Maia. Alikuwa mama ya Mercury na alikuwa na sifa ya kuwa mama mzuri. Ni jambo la kushangaza kwamba Mei pia ni siku ambayo sisi kusherehekea Siku ya Mama, lakini hii ni bahati mbaya tu. Maia pia anajulikana kuwa mungu wa majira ya kuchipua na ukuzi. Juni alipewa jina la Juno, ambaye alikuwa mke wa mungu Jupita. Juno pia alikuwa mungu-mke wa ndoa na kuzaa watoto. Kwa bahati mbaya hii ni moja ya miezi maarufu zaidi kwa ajili ya harusi. Mimi nina kudhani wao mbio nje ya mawazo kwa ajili ya miezi sita ijayo. Badala ya kumheshimu Mungu au dhana waliwaita tu majina matano hadi kumi. "Mwezi wa tano, au Julai, uliitwa ""Quintilius"" (kwa Kiingereza ""Quintileus"") hadi mwezi wa Agosti ulipobadilishwa kuwa ""Sextilius"" (kwa Kiingereza ""Sixthilius"") kwa heshima ya Julius Caesar na siku yake ya kuzaliwa." Katika karne ya 8 KK, Augustus, ambaye alikuwa mrithi wa Julius, na pia mpwa wake mkubwa na hatimaye mwana wake wa kambo, alipata mwezi ulioitwa kwa jina lake baada ya kuwashinda Marcus Antonius na Cleopatra na pia kuwa maliki wa Roma. "Septiemba ni neno la Kiroma la ""Septem"" linalotokana na neno la kale la Kiroma ""septem.""" Oktoba ilikuwa mwezi wa nane, ikifuatiwa na Novemba kwa ajili ya tisa na Desemba kwa ajili ya mwezi wa kumi. Mwaka 713 KK, kalenda ya Kikristo ilibadilishwa na Januari kuwa mwezi wa 11 na Februari kuwa mwezi wa mwisho. Januari ilipewa jina la mungu mwenye nyuso mbili Janus. Huyu ndiye Mungu ambaye angeweza kutazama nyuma katika wakati uliopita na kuelekea wakati ujao wakati uleule. Hii itafanya kazi kwa usahihi tangu sasa tunaanza mwaka katika Januari. Kwa hiyo, unaweza kufikiria kwamba Januari haingoji tu kuelekea mwaka mpya bali pia kurudi nyuma kwenye mwaka uliopita. Februm ilitokana na neno utakaso. Wakati huo ni wakati wa sherehe ya kusafisha au kusamehe, wakati watu walipokombolewa kwa makosa yao ya zamani kama maandalizi kwa ajili ya majira ya kuchipua. "Kama ilivyo kwa mwaka wa Februari, ilibidi tu tuwe na siku 28 tu, lakini kila baada ya miaka minne, ilibidi tuongeze siku moja zaidi, ambayo sasa inaitwa ""Mwaka wa Leap.""" "Hata hivyo, kuna uwezekano mkubwa kwamba unajiuliza, ""Jana lilipitaje kutoka mwezi wa 11 hadi mwezi wa 1?""" Wakati wa uchaguzi wa Roma, mara nyingi, Rais wa Roma, ambaye ni kama Rais wa Roma, alikuwa na nafasi ya kuongoza nchi mnamo Machi 15, mwaka wa kwanza wa mwaka. Hata hivyo, katika mwaka wa 153 K.K., Konsuli hakuweza kuchukua madaraka yake hadi Januari 1. Badala ya kuchelewa kwenda kazini kwa miezi kumi, walihamisha mwanzo wa mwaka hadi Januari 1. Hiyo ni baadhi ya nguvu, si hivyo? Je, waweza kuwazia kuja kazini siku ya Jumanne badala ya Jumatatu asubuhi? Badala ya kukemea kwa kukosa siku moja ya kazi, bosi alibadilisha tu siku ya kwanza ya juma kuwa Jumanne. Kwa hiyo, Januari ikawa mwezi wa kwanza. Hata hivyo, Siku ya Mwaka Mpya iliendelea kuadhimishwa Machi 25 hadi katika Enzi za Kati. Mwaka 1582 Papa Gregory XIII alibadilisha kalenda ya Julian na kuanzisha kalenda ya kisasa ya Gregorian. Siku ya 25 Machi ilikuwa ni siku ya kuadhimisha sikukuu ya kuabudiwa kwa Yesu, wakati malaika Gabrieli alipomwambia Maria kwamba angezaa mtoto wa kiume. Sikuzote hilo lilihusianishwa na mwezi wa kwanza wa mwaka. Kwa sababu ya kalenda ya Gregorian, mwezi mpya ulihamishwa kutoka kwa sikukuu ya Annunciation hadi sikukuu ya circumcision, ambayo ilifanyika siku nane baada ya kuzaliwa kwa mtoto Yesu. Hivyo hapo una... historia ya kalenda yetu ya kisasa. Kwa nadharia nadhani haina maana ni mwezi gani unaanza kwanza wa mwaka. Jambo la maana ni kwamba tunatumia kila siku kwa njia bora zaidi. Mwaka Mpya Mwenye Furaha! Joel