Pre-Reading Questions
You know New Year’s Day is in January. Do you think January first was always the start of the new year? Why or why not?
Why do you think January 1st was chosen?
Guess: what year do you think it was decided to use January 1st as the first day of the year??
Can you think of other days people might have wanted to celebrate New Years on? Why?
Establishing the Date of New Year’s
In 46 B.C.E. the Roman emperor Julius Caesar first
established January 1 as New Year’s Day. Janus
was the Roman god of doors and gates, and had two
faces, one looking forward and one back. Caesar felt that the month named
after this god (“January”) would be the appropriate “door” to the year.
This date did not remain. As Christianity spread, a Christian holiday soon became regarded as the start of the new year. This chosen New Year’s Day fell on March 25 or “Annunciation Day”. (Annunciation Day is the day set aside for celebrating the angel, Gabriel’s, announcement to Mary of her upcoming miracle).
However, in 1066, William the Conqueror was crowned the new king of England.
When he was crowned, he declared England should once again celebrate New Years
Day on January 1st. This move
ensured that the commemoration of Jesus’ birthday (December 25) would align
with William’s coronation - thus rooting the English and Christian calendars with
his own coronation. William’s suggestion was eventually rejected.
England
rejoined the rest of the Christian world and once again began celebrating New
Years Day on March 25.
However, about five hundred years later, in
1582, the pope abandoned the former calendar as it was scientifically incorrect.
By the Julian reckoning, the solar year comprised 365.25 days, and the
intercalation of a “leap day” every four years was intended to maintain
correspondence between the calendar and the seasons. However, there was a
slight inaccuracy in the Julian measurement (the solar year is actually 365
days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds = 365.2422 days). This slight
inaccuracy caused the Julian calendar to slip behind the seasons about one day
per century. Pope Gregory made the correction by advancing the calendar
10 days. The change was made the day after October 4, 1582, and that
following day was established as October 15, 1582. The Gregorian calendar
differs from the Julian in three ways: (1) No century year is a leap year
unless it is exactly divisible by 400 (e.g., 1600, 2000, etc.); (2) Years
divisible by 4000 are common (not leap) years; and (3) once again the New Year
would begin with the date set by the early pagans, the first day of the month
of Janus - January 1.
Comprehension Questions:
Who established the first New Years on January 1st?
Why was New Year’s changed away from January 1st?
Why did William the Conqueror want to switch the celebrations back to January first?
What day did Christians traditionally celebrate the holiday?
Why was the holiday switched back to January 1st?
What are some differences between the Gregorian and Julian calendars?
Why were October 5-14 skipped in 1582?
