Opinion, Out and About

Out and About

January 3, 2018 | Sandi Kemp

Welcome to January. Have you ever wondered how our calendar evolved and why we have twelve months and 365 days a year? I recently learned the calendar use to start with March. There is a lot of history with the calendar and how it came to be what we hang on our walls today. Attempts at calendars can be traced back to the very invention of writing in the middle east. Yes – early humans were trying to organize their days from the very beginning. They used signs offered by nature – such as the moon and the stars as early as 27th Century – BC.

The Babylonians had a lot to do with the early formations of the calendar we use today. They divided the calendar into two seasons – summer and winter and calendars differed from city to city. Can you imagine traveling from Navarre to Pensacola and having to ask what month and day they were on? How would you plan a meeting? How many calendars did you have to have on the wall? There is a personality type that must plan ahead. I know a few of them. Planners in 8 BC probably went insane or perhaps they didn’t exist. Maybe they evolved.

It was the Egyptians that got us to a year consisting of 365 days using a lunar calendar and a seasonal calendar.

The early Roman calendar in 8 BC, began with March and consisted of 10 months, six of 30 days and four of 31 days for a total of 304 days. The traditional second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, supposedly added two extra months January and February to fill the gap – making the calendar 354 days. Due to a superstitious dread of even numbers, (have you heard of a superstition of even numbers?) January was given an extra day and February was left with an even number of days – but was given over to the “infernal gods” which they considered justification. In the end – they were then left with 355 days – an uneven number which made everything okay because it was an odd number. Roman leaders – would extend the year when they wanted more time for their reign or shorten the year for leaders they weren’t too fond of.

Religions such as the Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Christian and Hindu calendars contributed to the calendar we have today. Other cultures to include the Chinese, Aztec, Inca and Mayan’s were all in search of their own calendars.

The calendar we use now is the Gregorian Calendar, named after a Pope Gregory VIII.

January was named by the ancient Romans for Janus – the god of beginnings and transitions. You may recognize the symbol or illustration of Janus – it is the dude that sometimes has a beard and sometimes doesn’t but is staring behind and ahead looking to the future and the past.

There are many adages like, “It is not possible to go forward while looking back.” Or, “don’t look back, you aren’t going that way.” Maybe those are good adages for those that have something in their past that they want to escape. But the pragmatic me – knows that you can’t be in denial of the past or we will keep having to relive the same mistakes. I say keep an eye on the past but move forward with confidence.

My observation from exploring the origins of the calendar is that even since the beginning of time we have been trying to control time – or at least get our arms around it. Time is the one constant that every living being has. No matter how you slice it or dice it, we all have the same hours in the day. It is what you do with your time that counts. And, you never know when your time on earth will end. In an era when there are more distractions than ever, it is best to choose who or what you will be distracted by or the time doing what is most important – will be cut drastically.

Quote of the Week: “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. Yet, those who do study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats it.” Unknown

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