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DECEMBER 2014 -
SEXY GLAM
MAGAZINE -
75
A History of the New Year
A move fromMarch to January
March is still re-
flected in some of the
names of the months.
September through
December, our ninth
through twelfth
months, were origi-
nally positioned as
the seventh through
tenth months (septem
is Latin for “seven,”
octo is “eight,” novem
is “nine,” and decem
is “ten.”
January Joins the
Calendar
The first time the
new year was cel-
ebrated on January
1st was in Rome in
153 B.C. (In fact, the
month of January did
not even exist until
around 700 B.C.,
when the second
king of Rome, Numa
Pontilius, added the
months of January
and February.) The
new year was moved
from March to January because that
was the beginning of the civil year,
the month that the two newly elected
Roman consuls—the highest offi-
cials in the Roman republic—began
their one-year tenure. But this New
Year date was not always strictly and
widely observed, and the New Year
was still sometimes celebrated on
March 1.
Julian Calendar: January 1st Offi-
cially Instituted as the New Year
In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar introduced
a new, solar-based calendar that
was a vast improvement on the an-
cient Roman calendar, which was a
lunar system that had become wildly
inaccurate over the years. The Julian
calendar decreed that the New Year
would occur with January 1, and
within the Roman world, January 1
became the consistently observed
start of the New Year.
Middle Ages: Janu-
ary 1st Abolished
In medieval Europe,
however, the celebra-
tions accompanying
the New Year were
considered pagan
and unchristian like,
and in 567 the Coun-
cil of Tours abolished
January 1 as the
beginning of the year.
At various times and
in various places
throughout medieval
Christian Europe,
the new year was
celebrated on Dec.
25, the birth of Jesus;
March 1; March 25,
the Feast of the
Annunciation; and
Easter.
Gregorian Calendar:
January 1st Re-
stored
In 1582, the Grego-
rian calendar reform
restored January 1 as New Year’s
Day. Although most Catholic coun-
tries adopted the Gregorian calen-
dar almost immediately, it was only
gradually adopted among Protestant
countries. The British, for example,
did not adopt the reformed calendar
until 1752. Until then, the British
Empire —and their American colo-
nies— still celebrated the New Year
in March.