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Ephemeris: 01/01/2024 – Why does the year start on January 1st?

January 1, 2024 Comments off

Happy New Year! This is Ephemeris for New Year’s Day, Monday, January 1st 2024. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:12. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 10:58 this evening.

Here we are January 1st the start of a new year. So why does the year start on January 1st? For a long time the Romans started their year in the middle of March near the vernal equinox, the Ides of March to be specific. The Hebrew calendar was the lunar calendar of either 12 or 13 months in a year so that 19 years in their lunar calendar was exactly 19 years on the Roman or Julian solar calendar. The Greeks until Roman times had a lunar calendar dictated haphazardly by every city state. Their year started with the summer solstice around mid-June. The Romans initially had a 10-month calendar. When they finally added those two months, the first they named after the god Janus the god of beginnings and endings, who had two faces, looking backward to the past and forward to the future.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Here is a coin struck with the head of the Roman god Janus, the god of beginnings, showing his two faces. He’s looking backwards and forwards, as we all do this time of the year.
Categories: Calendar, Ephemeris Program, History Tags: , ,