January

January. New Year (well, at least those of you following the Gregorian calendar). New Beginning. New blog post.

Sporadically, throughout the year, I am going to be discussing a little bit about the calendar because the calendar actually is based on astronomical phenomena. For example, the term for one-twelfth of a year is called month, which comes from the name Moon, derived for Proto-Germanic maenon. The division of the year into months comes from the lunar cycle, which is approximately 30 days.

I just want to begin this sporadic series by discussing where the name of January comes from. It is actually derived from the Roman god Ianus (no J's in Latin) who was the god of doorways and passages. He is also known as the two-headed god as he can see forward and also backwards, at the same time. Ianus is a god who can look in the past, yet still see peer ahead to the future. Good name for the month that begins a year.