About the month of January
"January is the first month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the year within most of the Northern Hemisphere and the warmest month of the year within most of the Southern Hemisphere."
History
"January, from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de BerryJanuary is named after Janus (Ianuarius), the god of the doorway; the name has its beginnings in Roman mythology, coming from the Latin word for door (ianua) - January is the door to the year. Traditionally, the original Roman calendar consisted of 10 months, totalling 304 days, winter being considered a monthless period. Around 713 BCE, the semi-mythical successor of Romulus, King Numa Pompilius, is supposed to have added the months of January and February, allowing the calendar to equal a standard lunar year (355 days). Although March was originally the first month in the old Roman Calendar, January became the first month of the calendar year either under Numa or under the Decemvirs about 450 BCE (Roman writers differ). In contrast, years in dates were identified by naming two consuls, who entered office on May 1 and March 15 before 153 BCE when they began to enter office on January 1."
"Various Christian feast dates were used for the New Year in Europe during the Middle Ages, including March 25 and December 25. However, medieval calendars were still displayed in the Roman fashion of twelve columns from January to December. Beginning in the sixteenth century, European countries began officially making January 1 the start of the New Year once again — sometimes called Circumcision Style because this was the date of the Feast of the Circumcision, being the eighth day from December 25."
"Historical names for January include its original Roman designation, Ianuarius, the Saxon term Wulf-monath (meaning wolf month) and Charlemagne's designation Wintarmanoth (winter / cold month)."
Other names
"In Finnish, the month is called tammikuu, meaning month of the oak, but the original meaning was the month of the heart of winter, as tammi has initially meant axis or core. In Czech this month is called leden, meaning ice month In Ukrainian it is січень meaning cutting or slicing perhaps referring to the wind."
____________________________________________________________
January Symbols
• The Full Moon: Find out when it's a Full Moon in January.
____________________________________________________________
Food Holidays
January has a long list of fun food observances that's celebrated during the month of January.
____________________________________________________________
Movable Holidays
This means that each year the Holiday falls on a different date. Exaples of this is:
____________________________________________________________
Weird Holidays
Our monthly calendar is packed full of unique, strange, bazaar, wacky and weird holidays. These are some of the most popular observances for weird, wild and wacky parties too!
____________________________________________________________
It's National Month of?
The month is a unit of time, used with calendars, which is approximately as long as some natural "period related to the motion of the Moon; month and Moon are cognates."
Each month our calendar has a list of holidays that are observed for the whole month.
____________________________________________________________
It's National Week of?
Our calendar has full week observances.
____________________________________________________________
It's National Day of?
January has a long list of Day-Long Observances that's celebrated for a full day. A great example of this is January 1st. On January 1 we celebrate Z Day - First Foot Day - New Year's Day -
__________________________________________________________________
See Also:
Resources:
____________________________________________________________________________
Note: We try to keep our information up to date but it must be said that organizations sometimes change the date of their holiday and many holidays are actual movable holidays which means the date will change from year to year. We try to keep you up to date but we do suggest that you not take our research set in stone. We ask that you let our information be a guide to you as you continue to do your own calendar research. :) Thank You! • •
