Ianuarius

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Ianuarius (January) in the ancient Roman calendar

Ianuarius was the first month of the Roman calendar and is the origin of January in later Julian and Gregorian calendars. It followed Februarius (February).

How long it was
- In the early Roman calendar, Ianuarius had 29 days.
- Julius Caesar added two more days in 45 BCE.
- In the Julian calendar, Ianuarius eventually had 31 days.

Where it came from
- The very first Roman calendar, credited to Romulus, had only ten months and began in March.
- Ianuarius and Februarius were added later by King Numa Pompilius, probably at the end of the year.
- It’s not clear exactly when Romans began the year in January, but January is now treated as the first month.

What the name means
- Ianuarius is usually linked to Janus, the two-faced god of beginnings and openings.
- Some old agricultural writings say Juno was the month’s guardian.

January for farmers
- January was a slack time for farming. Almanacs expected about 9¾ hours of daylight and 14¼ hours of darkness.
- Farmers were advised to sharpen stakes, cut willows and reeds, and offer small rites to the household gods (the Dei Penates).
- Some farmers were very devout and avoided hard work until January 13, using January 1 to start the year’s tasks in a hopeful way.

How Romans measured days in January
- They did not count days from 1 to the end of the month. Instead, they counted backward from three fixed points:
- Nones (the 5th or 7th, depending on the month)
- Ides (the 13th or 15th)
- Kalends of the next month (the 1st)
- January’s Nones fell on the 5th and the Ides on the 13th. The last day of January was the day before the Kalends of February.

Religious and public life
- Days were marked with letters indicating whether days were allowed for certain religious activities.
- There were movable feasts called feriae conceptivae, including Compitalia (Crossroads Festival) and Sementivae (Festival of Sowing).
- A dies natalis marked anniversaries of temples or deities, sometimes thought of as a deity’s birthday.
- In the Imperial era, birthdays and anniversaries of the emperor and his family became prominent holidays. Public shows and games often accompanied these celebrations.

Julian reforms
- Under the Julian calendar, Ianuarius was extended to 31 days, and January 1 was used as the official start of the year.

In short, Ianuarius was the primed month of Rome’s year, evolving from a 29-day period in an older calendar to a 31-day month in the Julian system, with important religious rites, public ceremonies, and a distinctive way of counting days.