The date of a new year is a man-made creation, which is not precisely fixed by any natural or seasonal marker. The celebration of New Year’s Day on January 1 is a civil event, although for us in the northern hemisphere, where daylight has diminished to its lowest point and the days are beginning to lengthen, there is a feeling of rebirth in the air, time of renewal. That’s why New Year’s resolutions are so popular.
So where does the concept of New Year come from?
It is born of an ancient Roman custom, the feast of the Roman god Janus, who was the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, gates, passages, frames and endings. Hence also comes the name of the month of January, as Janus was depicted with two faces. One side looked back at the past and the other looked forward into the future, just as, like January 1, we can look back at the year just ended and wait for the new year that awaits us. There was no equivalent of Jan in Greek mythology.
To celebrate the new year, the Romans made promises to Janus. Hence the tradition of making New Year’s Day resolutions. That day it was customary to exchange cheerful words of good wishes. Shortly afterwards, on January 9, the rex sacrorum offered the sacrifice of a card to Janus.
Learn more about Janus.
The date of a new year is a man-made, unnatural concept. It marks a time of renewal and rebirth. Image via WallStreet.com.
The ancient Roman god Janus. Image using tablesbeyondbelief.
Today, although many celebrate New Year’s Day on January 1, some cultures and religions do not.
For example, Jews use a lunar calendar and celebrate the New Year in the fall on Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the month of Tishri, which is the seventh month of the Jewish year. This date usually takes place in September. Similar to the New Year’s Day in other cultures, a two-day holiday is both a time of joy and serious introspection, a time to celebrate the end of another year, at the same time as balance of life and look to the future.
Learn more about Rosh Hashanah.
There is also the famous Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, celebrated for weeks in January or early February. Chinese New Year is the most important of the Chinese holidays. Southeast Asian countries celebrate it, including China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It is also celebrated in Chinatowns and Asian homes around the world and is considered a time to honor deities and ancestors and to be with family. The event always causes a wave of travel that the New York News has called the world’s largest annual human migration.
For 2020, the Chinese New Year was the year of the Chinese zodiac rat, which began on January 25th. 2021 will be the year of the ox. The Chinese New Year will begin on February 12 and run until January 31, 2022. The previous years of the bull were 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997 and 2009.
Learn more about Chinese New Year.
Challah, a round, traditional Jewish bread, eaten by Rosh Hashanah. Image using My Jewish Learning.
Our friend Matthew Chin in Hong Kong created this graphic and wrote, “The two Chinese characters are the same. It means “blessing,” hoping other people have good luck. It is commonly used during the lunar new year. The red background is also a kind of “good”, as the Chinese use red to represent “good luck”. ”Thank you, Matthew!
For 2021, the Chinese New Year will be the year of the ox. Image via thechinesezodiac.org.
By the way, in addition to the longest days here in the northern hemisphere, there is another astronomical occurrence around January 1 of each year that is also related to the year of the Earth, as defined by the our orbit around the sun. That is, the perihelion of the Earth, or the point closest to the sun, takes place every year in early January.
But January 1 has not always been New Year’s Day throughout history.
In the past, some New Year’s celebrations took place on an equinox, a day when the sun is above the Earth’s equator, and night and day are of equal length. In many cultures, the March or spring equinox marks a time of transition and new beginnings, so the cultural celebrations of a new year were natural for this equinox. The September or autumn equinox also had its proponents for the start of a new year. For example, the French Republican calendar – implemented during the French Revolution and used for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805 – began its year at the September equinox.
For this reason, we don’t celebrate New Year’s Day on January 1st, but it would make sense for us to do so. The perihelion, our closest point to the sun in our annual orbit, takes place every year in early January. Aphelion is when the Earth is furthest from the sun. Image via Corey S. Powell / Twitter.
The Greeks celebrated the winter solstice in the new year, the shortest day of the year.
Simply put: the reason for celebrating New Year’s Day on January 1 is historical, not astronomical. The new year was celebrated according to astronomical events, such as equinoxes and solstices, eons ago. Our modern New Year’s celebration comes from the ancient, two-faced Roman god Janus, with whom January is also called January. One side of Janus looked back at the past and the other looked forward into the future.
Via Wikipedia
Via Wikipedia
Via My Jewish Learning
Via Chinese New Year 2020
