If this passage from one year to another is, for everyone, synonymous with celebration and joy, from one end of the planet to the other, it was not the same in the past.
Indeed, it was on August 9, 1564, by the Edict of Roussillon, that the young King Charles IX imposed January 1 as the compulsory starting point of each year, in order to standardize and put order in his kingdom then in full religious war.
But it was Pope Gregory XIII who, in 1582, generalized this measure to the entire Catholic world at the same time as the reform instituting the Gregorian calendar, in particular to simplify the calendar of religious festivals.
Long ago, the Romans dedicated this day to Janus, the god of beginnings and ends, of choices, of passage and of doors. He is bifrons (“with two faces”) and always represented with one face turned towards the past, the other towards the future. Until Julius Caesar, born July 12 or 13, 100 BC. JC and died in Rome on March 15, 44 BC, the holiday celebrating the end of the year was not a fixed date and usually took place in February. Caius Julius Caesar has set the end of the year for December 31.
In the Roman Republic, the year began in March and consisted of 355 days and ten months. March, dedicated to the god of war was therefore the 1st month of the year, April (aprilis) dedicated perhaps to Apollo, Greek god of light and the arts (Aperta was his nickname). Mai (maius) is either dedicated to Maïa, goddess of fertility or to Jupiter (Maius was Jupiter’s nickname). June (junius) is dedicated to Juno, the queen of the gods and wife of Jupiter. The other months are always numbered, from the 5th to the 10th: quintilis (the 5th), sextilis (the 6th), September (the 7th), October (the 8th), November (the 9th) and December (the 10th). It was only in 700 BC that the Romans added two months before the month of March: January (januarius) dedicated to Janus, and February (februarius) the month of purifications (februare meaning to purify in Latin).
Things could have stopped there but, in the year 15 of our era, the Roman senate replaced Quintilis by Julius (hence the month of July) in memory of Julius Caesar and sextilis by Augustus in honor of Augustus , the adopted son of the Roman emperor (hence the month of August)… In 46 BC, a reform of Julius Caesar gives the year 365 days and 12 months. It now begins on January 1. It is the birth of the Julian calendar!
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