What's Behind January?

Here is another interesting snippet of information, and a bit of Roman mythology – not of practical use perhaps, but good for the inquiring mind.

We are now in January – the first month heralding in the New Year. January is named after the Roman god Janus, famed for having two faces. One face looked back into the old year and the other one looked forward to the New Year.

Janus, who was named after the Latin ianua, meaning door, was favoured by the god Saturn with the gift of insight into future and past.

Basically, Janus is the god of all entrances and exits such as doors, doorways, gates, bridges, and passageways, which all symbolise beginnings and ends. Janus also represents transitional phases such as the period between adolescence and adulthood.

January is the time when we can reflect on the events of the previous year and then go on to make those important resolutions that we intend to keep forever. Probably we won’t keep them all, and perhaps not any, but we can all go forward to make meaningful changes in our lives for the coming year.