A History of the New Year

A History of the New Year:
A move from March to January

by Borgna Brunne

Early Roman Calendar: March 1st Rings in the New Year.

The celebration of the new year on January 1st is a relatively new phenomenon. The earliest recording of a new year celebration is believed to have been in Mesopotamia, c. 2000 B.C. and was celebrated around the time of the vernal equinox, in mid-March. A variety of other dates tied to the seasons were also used by various ancient cultures. The Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Persians began their new year with the fall equinox, and the Greeks celebrated it on the winter solstice.

The early Roman calendar designated March 1 as the new year. The calendar had just ten months, beginning with March. That the new year once began with the month of March is still reflected in some of the names of the months. September through December, our ninth through twelfth months, were originally positioned as the seventh through tenth months (septem is Latin for "seven," octo is "eight," novem is "nine," and decem is "ten."

January Joins the Calendar

The first time the new year was celebrated on January 1st was in Rome in 153 B.C. (In fact, the month of January did not even exist until around 700 B.C., when the second king of Rome, Numa Pontilius, added the months of January and February.) The new year was moved from March to January because that was the beginning of the civil year, the month that the two newly elected Roman consuls—the highest officials in the Roman republic—began their one-year tenure. But this new year date was not always strictly and widely observed, and the new year was still sometimes celebrated on March 1.

Julian Calendar: January 1st Officially Instituted as the New Year

In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar introduced a new, solar-based calendar that was a vast improvement on the ancient Roman calendar, which was a lunar system that had become wildly inaccurate over the years. The Julian calendar decreed that the new year would occur with January 1, and within the Roman world, January 1 became the consistently observed start of the new year.

Middle Ages: January 1st Abolished

In medieval Europe, however, the celebrations accompanying the new year were considered pagan and unchristian like, and in 567 the Council of Tours abolished January 1 as the beginning of the year. At various times and in various places throughout medieval Christian Europe, the new year was celebrated on Dec. 25, the birth of Jesus; March 1; March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation; and Easter.

Gregorian Calendar: January 1st Restored

In 1582, the Gregorian calendar reform restored January 1 as new year's day. Although most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar (from Pope Gregory) almost immediately, it was only gradually adopted among Protestant countries. The British, for example, did not adopt the reformed calendar until 1752. Until then, the British Empire —and their American colonies— still celebrated the new year in March.
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OK, so now we know the truth: January 1 as New Year's Day is a Roman Catholic Pope's calendrical choice, probably made a week after Jesus's alleged birthday in order to not compete with It.

So Jan. 1 has no "natural" power behind it, unlike the natural Solstice cycle, which has the power of the Sun behind it.

But here's the thing: if enough people do the same thing at the exact same moment, it BECOMES powerful. That's because Humans are an important part of Nature. Our group mind focuses group chi flow. So when billions of people celebrate the New Year on Jan. 1, and blow off a lot of chi around it, I stay up late that night and do qigong practices to "harvest" all that free Human Chi.

It's like getting a free short of adrenaline, IF you know how to capture it. If you haven't studied Taoist internal alchemy, which teaches that skill, then doing a ritual form of alchemy will suffice. The simplest and most powerful ritual alchemy form is Wu Ji Gong, aka Tai Chi or Enlightenment or Primordial Qigong.

Now, why do the Chinese wait until Feb. for their New Year's Day? It is based on the Lunar Calendar, which is indirectly based on the sun cycle (where else does the moon get it's Light from?).

Chinese New Year's Day is set for the second new moon AFTER the Dec. 21 Winter Solstice. This is really a way of allowing for a full 28 day lunar cycle to occur after Winter Solstice, before they consider the new year to be fully birthed.

That's why Chinese New Year changes every year, ranging from last week in january to mid-February. It's whenever the second moon goes dark. New moons = fertile womb of Earth Woman, good time to plant and start new projects that will increase alongside the moon cycle. So in a society attuned to a lunar calendar, the New Moon cycle trumps the solar cycle.

Nice 23 minute video: What is Tao?

 

http://www.lifeartsmedia.com/opening-dao-taoism-martial-arts-documentary