January 3: New Year

In Roman times, on the “kalendae”, the first day of the month, all festivities and activities would be announced. The first “calendar” in the modern sense, was introduced by the city’s mythical founder Romulus. He divided the year in ten months, starting with one for his favourite, war god Mars. The second month referred to Mars’ partner Venus, Aphrodite in Greek, hence “April”. The spring goddess Maia lent her name to the month of May, and June of course brings in supreme goddess Juno. Romulus’ inspiration dried up after this, so much later, the two following months were attributed to the emperors Julius Caesar and Augustus. Nobody bothered to name the seventh, eigth, ninth and tenth month: September, October, November, December. Romulus’ successors however struggled with his ten month system, and added two more, to put before all others. One in honour of Janus, god of new beginnings, and one for Februus, god of reflection and purification. From then on, Mars only came in third, and the tenth month is in fact the twelfth.