WHY DO the months of September and October make up the ninth and tenth months of the year? Since septem is the Latin word for seven and octo for eight, shouldn’t the aforesaid months represent the seventh month and eighth month, respectively? But that’s going ahead of history.
One of the first truly scientific calendars was the Egyptian calendar, where each comprised of 12 months, and each month had exactly 30 days. The months were further divided into three weeks, with each week lasting 10 days.
Then came the Babylonian “lunisolar” calendar with 12 lunar months, each beginning with the appearance of a new crescent moon.
The first Roman calendar – conceptualized by Romulus, the founder of Rome, in the eighth century B.C. – had 10 months in a year, with each month lasting 30 or 31 days. March was the first month of the year.
In 46 B.C. the emperor Julius Caesar, after consulting with astronomers and mathematicians of his time, introduced the 12-month Julian calendar, which closely resembles the more modern Gregorian calendar that the world uses today. Thus, the original seventh and eighth months slid to ninth and tenth.
Caesar named the first month January in honor of Janus, the Roman god with two faces that enabled him to look back into the past and forward into the future.
Romans celebrated by offering sacrifices to Janus, exchanging gifts with one another, decorating their homes with laurel branches and attending raucous parties.
The practice of making resolutions for the New Year started among the ancient Babylonians, who made promises in order to earn the favor of the gods and start the year off on the right foot.
In medieval Europe, Christian leaders temporarily experimented with other dates to begin the year with. During the Middle Ages, European countries replaced them with days that carried greater significance, such as December 25 (the traditional anniversary of Jesus’ birth) and March 25 (the Feast of the Annunciation).
Pope Gregory XIII reestablished Jan. 1 as New Year’s Day in 1582. By then, the Julian calendar implemented by Julius Caesar had fallen out of sync with the seasons. This concerned Gregory because it meant that Easter, traditionally observed within March, fell further away from the spring equinox – that day in March when the day and the night are of equal length across the celestial equator.
Some European countries did not immediately adopt the Gregorian calendar because of the anti-Pope Protestant Reformation that was taking place at that time. Today, it is the calendar of the world.
Even China officially adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1911. The Chinese around the world, however, never celebrate New Year on Jan. 1. The first day of the Chinese New Year begins on the new moon that appears between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20. The origin of the Chinese New Year has been obscured by the length of time.
This year, it falls on Tuesday, Feb. 5. The day also marks the beginning of the Spring Festival that is celebrated for 15 straight days in China.
Each year in the Chinese calendar is represented by one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. The present year is the year of the Pig, which symbolizes diligence, compassion, and generosity in China.
Most of us Filipinos do not celebrate Chinese New Year. But due to the growing clusters of Chinese residents and businessmen, it is not unusual to see Filipinos participating in parades and dragon dances in China towns and commercial centers. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
