New Year, Winter, Janus

It always seems weird when you don't do what everyone else around you is doing. I know the feeling. But when you are a truth-seeker, and research something in search of truth, and you see that truth come to life, you can't help but follow in the path of truth. I've got a long way to go, but I've been doing that now for about 18 years. Sometimes it's a struggle, but the reward is always great.

Just a little bit of study will show that the new year is not on January 1 (in mid-winter), but rather in the spring when everything is coming to life and being re-born. Grass starts growing again, leaves come back on the trees, birds start chirping, and nature starts singing. The first month on the Biblical calendar is named Abib (Exodus 12:2; 13:4) meaning "ears of grain." The month name stems from the harvest of barley in the spring-time. The Biblical calendar is found in the heavens, Genesis 1:14-18. It consists of the sun, moon, and stars.

The pre-46 B.C. Roman calendar actually had lunar months that began on what was called then the kalends of March or March 1. March 1 then and March 1 now do not coincide because March now is an arbitrary solar month that consists of strictly 31 days. March - pre-46 B.C. - was a lunar month consisting of either 29 or 30 days depending upon the lunar cycle. The Roman month of "Martias" (March) was the moon that came closest to the spring equinox. This equinox which takes place on the current Gregorian calendar around the latter part of the month of March.

In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar of Rome, under the advice of an astronomer named Sosigenes decided to discard the moon from the Roman calendar and adopt a strictly solar calendar. The reason that January (then Ianuarius) was chosen to be the first month on the calendar was because it was named after the god Ianus (Janus), a two faced god of new beginnings. He was the god of gates, doors, births, etc. He had one face to take out the old year and bring in the new. He was sometimes depicted holding the number 300 in one hand and the number 65 in the other.

After I studied this out years ago, it seemed to me that I should acknowledge and celebrate the beginning of Yahweh's year, not the beginning of a year that is completely out of kilter with nature and dedicated to a pagan, heathen god. Here are some links to get you started if you want to search this out yourself.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/time/smd/smd03.htm

http://www.crowl.org/lawrence/time/months.html

http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/romangods/p/janus.htm

http://hotword.dictionary.com/january/

~ Matthew