New Year

[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Mensis Ianuarius or Januarius ("January") is the first month of the ancient Roman calendar, from which the English name of the month derives. It was followed by Februarius ("February"). In the calendars of the Roman Republic, Ianuarius had 29 days. Two days were added when the calendar was reformed under Julius Caesar in 45 BC.

In the oldest Roman calendar, which the Romans believed to have been instituted by their legendary founder Romulus, the first month was Martius ("Mars' month", March), and the calendar year had only ten months. Ianuarius and Februarius were supposed to have been added by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, originally at the end of the year. It is unclear when the Romans reset the course of the year so that January and February came first.[1] Ianuarius is conventionally thought to have taken its name from Janus, the dual-faced god of beginnings, openings, passages, gates and doorways,[2] but according to ancient Roman farmers' almanacs Juno was the tutelary deity of the month.

Theosophical view

Let no one imagine that it is a mere fancy, the attaching of importance to the birth of the year. The earth passes through its definite phases and man with it; and as a day can be coloured so can a year. The astral life of the earth is young and strong between Christmas and Easter. Those who form their wishes now will have added strength to fulfil them consistently.

The 1st of January was the first day of the civil year of the Romans, and celebrated 2,000 years ago as it is now.

The first of Januarius was ever more sacred to Janus than Juno; and janua, meaning “the gate that openeth the year,” holds as good for any day in January.

Only we, theosophists . . . would prefer another day for our New Year. Like the apostate Emperor, many of us have still a strong lingering love for the poetical, bright gods of Olympus and would willingly repudiate the double-faced Thessalonian. January 3, for instance, was consecrated to Minerva-Athênê, the goddess of wisdom and to Isis, "she who generates life".

To be brief, it is January the 4th which ought to be selected by the Theosophists—the Esotericists especially—as their New Year. January is under the sign of Capricornus, the mysterious Makara of the Hindu mystics—the “Kumaras,” it being stated, having incarnated in mankind under the 10th sign of the Zodiac. For ages the 4th of January has been sacred to Mercury-Budha, or Thoth-Hermes. Thus everything combines to make of it a festival to be held by those who study ancient Wisdom. Whether called Budh or Budhi by its Aryan name, Mercurios, the son of Caelus and Hecate truly, or of the divine (white) and infernal (black) magic by its Hellenic, or again Hermes or Thoth, its Greco-Egyptian name, the day seems in every way more appropriate for us than January 1, the day of Janus, the double-faced “god of the time”-servers. Yet it is well named, and as well chosen to be celebrated by all the political opportunists the world over.

The 3rd of January . . . was also set apart as the day on which the deities of Olympus visited their worshippers . . . and January the 4th is the day of Mercury (Hermes, Budha), who is credited with adding brains to the heads of those who are civil to him . . . . Thus everything combines to make of it a festival to be held by those who study ancient Wisdom. It is January the 4th which ought to be selected by the Theosophists--the Esotericists especially--as their New Year. . . .

People usually wish that their friends shall have a happy new year, and sometimes "prosperous" is added to "happy". . . . Even if happiness and prosperity are absent, it is possible to find something greater than either in this coming year. . . . Neither happiness nor prosperity are always the best of bedfellows for such undeveloped mortals as most of us are; they seldom bring with them peace, which is the only permanent joy.

Online resources

Articles

• On the New Year's Morrow by H. P. Blavatsky