It’s just a number, & a fairly random one, based on where it was when they standardized Julian then adjusted to Gregorian. The new year should begin at perihelion, solstice or equinox.
When the new year begins would depend entirely on one’s frame of reference. The US Federal fiscal year begins on October 1st. The lunar new year this year begins on February 2. There are undoubtedly others, and we should all feel free to take our pick or even make one up.
I think that finally around January First the sun gets around to rising earlier, or at least so’s people began to notice. It starts setting later at the Winter Solstice.
The religious powers that were also made an arbitrary decision as to when Jesus of Nazareth was born. Some evidence points to April.
It was actually Julius Cæsar who moved the date of new year’s from 1 March to 1 January back in 46 BCE when the Julian calendar was adopted. Of course, by the fifteenth century everything was out of whack. By then, various countries celebrated at different times. In Britain and its colonies, the feast of the Annunciation (25 March) was New Year’s. Most countries shifted to 1 January on or before adopting the Gregorian calendar. In America, that was 1752. However, throughout the Middle Ages, even before the Gregorian reforms, physical calendars ran from January to December.
The Old Wolf over 13 years ago
It’ll go faster than 7,200 bottles of beer on the wall, that’s for sure.
ChukLitl Premium Member over 13 years ago
It’s just a number, & a fairly random one, based on where it was when they standardized Julian then adjusted to Gregorian. The new year should begin at perihelion, solstice or equinox.
cdward over 13 years ago
“Eary?” I’m trying to figure out what kind of ears - Vulcan, Dumbo, Alfred P. Newman….?
ChiehHsia over 13 years ago
When the new year begins would depend entirely on one’s frame of reference. The US Federal fiscal year begins on October 1st. The lunar new year this year begins on February 2. There are undoubtedly others, and we should all feel free to take our pick or even make one up.
Nighthawks Premium Member over 13 years ago
hm. idiot pope!
you goin’ to hell for that one!
junco49 over 13 years ago
I think that finally around January First the sun gets around to rising earlier, or at least so’s people began to notice. It starts setting later at the Winter Solstice.
The religious powers that were also made an arbitrary decision as to when Jesus of Nazareth was born. Some evidence points to April.
runar over 13 years ago
It was actually Julius Cæsar who moved the date of new year’s from 1 March to 1 January back in 46 BCE when the Julian calendar was adopted. Of course, by the fifteenth century everything was out of whack. By then, various countries celebrated at different times. In Britain and its colonies, the feast of the Annunciation (25 March) was New Year’s. Most countries shifted to 1 January on or before adopting the Gregorian calendar. In America, that was 1752. However, throughout the Middle Ages, even before the Gregorian reforms, physical calendars ran from January to December.
freeholder1 over 13 years ago
Here, wikipedia, same diff. Bunch of legend readers amok.
vldazzle over 13 years ago
Such a fun bunch of people- and I have friends criticizing my SCA friends for being obsessed with Medieval times.