Happy New Year’s Eve everyone! Do you know why January 1st is the beginning of a new calendar year? The answer can be traced back to ancient Rome around the eighth century B.C. In those ancient times, the calendar was only 10 months long with the beginning of the year falling on the vernal equinox. However, the calendar fell out of sync with the sun over many centuries.
So in 46 B.C., Julius Caesar gathered prominent astronomers and mathematicians to solve the problem. From their efforts came the Julian calendar, a precursor to the modern Gregorian calendar most of the world uses today. The Julian calendar established January 1st as the first day of the year. This choice was made to honor the month’s namesake Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, who had two faces that allowed him to look towards the past and future simultaneously. While there were likely many reasons for choosing January 1st, this is the only reason that can be supported with historical references: