January 01

"New Beginnings"

When the Romans built their empire, they took over most of the Greek gods without much creativity. But they did come up with one god themselves. (Though some believe him to be a compressed version of the divine twins Apollo and Artemis.) He was the first to be invoked on every ceremony. His name was Janus, and he was depicted with two faces, looking simultaneously at beginnings and endings, openings and closings, present and past, inside and out, birth and death, war and peace. As god of new beginnings, the first month of the year was named after him, and it was custom to trade good wishes and little gifts on the first day. He had a monument in Rome, of which the doors were left open when the empire was at war. Which was the case most of the time. In the fourth century AD, christianity was imposed as the new religion, and Janus temple doors closed for good. Or so they thought. Two centuries later, someone opened them again, during the Gothic wars. We all know they haven’t been closed since. But we keep on hoping that this might be the year.​ Back to January overview.

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