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Why Is the New Year Commenced on January 1st?
Janus was a god in Roman mythology, and he lived for a very long time ago. He had two faces, one that looked forward and the other that looked backward, and he was the deity of entrances and exits. Julius Caesar came up with the idea that the month of January, which takes its name from the Roman god Janus, should serve as the gateway to a new year. As a result, when he devised the Julian calendar, he designated January 1 as the first day of the year. As a result, the calendar year is now in sync with the consular year, which began on the same day that new consuls were sworn into office. Read Also: Why Chinese New Year Is Important?
Caesar used the Julian calendar as a political instrument and a weapon during his reign. When Roman soldiers conquered new territories, the Roman Empire would frequently allow its new subjects some degree of religious and cultural autonomy. This included the right to continue practicing certain rituals and traditions. However, after it was formed, the calendar was utilized throughout the entire Empire. This was done not only to ensure coherence but also to serve as a constant reminder to all residents of Roman authority and Caesar’s power.
Because the Romans celebrated the first day of the new year with drunken orgies, the celebration of the new year was deemed to be pagan after the fall of Rome and the spread of Christianity throughout Europe. As a result, the first day of the year was moved to a date that was more compatible with Christianity in order to Christianize the celebration. Some countries began their calendar year on March 25, which is the day Christians commemorate the angel appearing to Mary and telling her that she would miraculously have a child. Other nations celebrated the holiday on Christmas Day, which is December 25, while others chose to celebrate Easter on the Sunday after Easter regardless of the date. In many cases, this adjustment was only made to the calendars used by the government. People who were not members of the clergy or royal families continued to observe January 1 as the beginning day of the year because they did not believe there was a reason to modify it. Read Also: How To Wish Happy New Year To Your Love?
The Date Has Been Moved
During the Middle Ages, a frustrated pope put an end to this calendrical confusion that had worked for a while. Before that, though, it had worked. The Julian year had gotten out of sync with the solar year as a result of an error that Caesar made in his calendar. By the year 1582, the time difference had reached ten days. Pope Gregory XIII grew weary of having to recalculate the date of Easter every year because the spring equinox (and, by extension, Easter) kept getting moved forward over the course of history. Gregory came up with a brand new calendar that maintained its accuracy by adding a single leap day once every four years. In addition to this, he returned January 1 to its traditional position as the first day of the year. Read Also: How To Wish Happy New Year To Girlfriend?
The Gregorian calendar was rapidly adopted by the majority of Catholic countries, but the Eastern Rite countries and Protestant countries were more reticent to make the switch. The Protestants voiced their concern that the “Roman Antichrist” was attempting to deceive them into doing their religious observances on the incorrect days. Some countries in Eastern Europe continued to use the Julian calendar well into the modern era because it was required by the Eastern Rite churches to uphold tradition. It wasn’t until after the revolution in 1917 that Russia made the conversion to the Gregorian calendar, and even today, the Eastern Orthodox Church still uses either the traditional or updated Julian calendar to calculate its liturgical year. Russia didn’t make the switch until after the revolution.
In due time, the Protestant nations embraced the Gregorian calendar as the standard timekeeping system. However, the majority of them shifted their beginning of the year well before they adopted the new system as a whole. Early in the year 1752, England, Ireland, and the British colonies all made January 1 the first day of the year. Scotland had already completed the move some 150 years earlier, but England, Ireland, and the British colonies waited until September to fully adopt the new calendar. It is possible that the staggered step was symbolic, as it brought the calendar of the government into alignment with that of the people before putting the calendar of the nation into alignment with that of the Pope.
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