A History of New Years

 In 46 B.C.E. the Roman emperor Julius Caesar first established January 1 as New Year’s day. Janus was the Roman god of doors and gates, and had two faces, one looking forward and one back.  Caesar felt that the month named after this god
(“January”) would be the appropriate “door” to the year.  Caesar
celebrated the first January 1 New Year by ordering the violent routing
of revolutionary Jewish forces in the Galilee.  Eyewitnesses say blood
flowed in the streets.  In later years, Roman pagans observed the New
Year by engaging in drunken orgies—a ritual they believed constituted a
personal re-enacting of the chaotic world that existed before the cosmos
was ordered by the gods.

As Christianity spread, pagan holidays were either incorporated into the Christian calendar or abandoned altogether.  By the early medieval period most of Christian
Europe regarded Annunciation Day (March 25) as the beginning of the
year.  (According to Catholic tradition, Annunciation Day commemorates
the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would be impregnated
by G-d and conceive a son to be called Jesus.)

    After William the Conqueror (AKA “William the Bastard” and “William of Normandy”) became King of England on December 25, 1066, he decreed that
the English return to the date established by the Roman pagans, January
1.  This move ensured that the commemoration of Jesus’ birthday
(December 25) would align with William’s coronation, and the
commemoration of Jesus’ circumcision (January 1) would start the new
year - thus rooting the English and Christian calendars and his own
Coronation).  William’s innovation was eventually rejected, and England
rejoined the rest of the Christian world and returned to celebrating New
Years Day on March 25.

    About five hundred years later, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII (AKA “Ugo Boncompagni”, 1502-1585) abandoned the traditional Julian calendar.  By the Julian
reckoning, the solar year comprised 365.25 days, and the intercalation
of a “leap day” every four years was intended to maintain correspondence
between the calendar and the seasons.  Really, however there was a
slight inaccuracy in the Julian measurement (the solar year is actually
365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds = 365.2422 days).  This
slight inaccuracy caused the Julian calendar to slip behind the seasons
about one day per century.  Although this regression had amounted to 14
days by Pope Gregory’s time, he based his reform on restoration of the
vernal equinox, then falling on March 11, to the date had 1,257 years
earlier when Council of Nicaea was convened (March 21, 325 C.E.).  Pope
Gregory made the correction by advancing the calendar 10 days.  The
change was made the day after October 4, 1582, and that following day
was established as October 15, 1582.  The Gregorian calendar differs
from the Julian in three ways:  (1) No century year is a leap year
unless it is exactly divisible by 400 (e.g., 1600, 2000, etc.); (2)
Years divisible by 4000 are common (not leap) years; and (3) once again
the New Year would begin with the date set by the early pagans, the
first day of the month of Janus - January 1.

    On New Years Day 1577 Pope Gregory XIII decreed that all Roman Jews, under pain of death, must listen attentively to the compulsory Catholic conversion
sermon given in Roman synagogues after Friday night services.  On New
Years Day 1578 Gregory signed into law a tax forcing Jews to pay for the
support of a “House of Conversion” to convert Jews to Christianity.  On
New Years 1581 Gregory ordered his troops to confiscate all sacred
literature from the Roman Jewish community.  Thousands of Jews were
murdered in the campaign.

    Throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods, January 1 - supposedly the day on which Jesus’ circumcision initiated the reign of Christianity and the
death of Judaism - was reserved for anti-Jewish activities: synagogue
and book burnings, public tortures, and simple murder.

    The Israeli term for New Year’s night celebrations, “Sylvester,” was the name of the “Saint” and Roman Pope who reigned during the Council of
Nicaea (325 C.E.).  The year before the Council of Nicaea convened,
Sylvester convinced Constantine to prohibit Jews from living in
Jerusalem.  At the Council of Nicaea, Sylvester arranged for the passage
of a host of viciously anti-Semitic legislation.  All Catholic “Saints”
are awarded a day on which Christians celebrate and pay tribute to that
Saint’s memory.  December 31 is Saint Sylvester Day - hence
celebrations on the night of December 31 are dedicated to Sylvester’s
memory.

U.S. News and World Report December 23, 1996

Source: ( http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/newyearshistory/)

Origins of the names of days and months

Did you know that the names of our months and week days have their roots in paganism? If numbering the days was good enough for God, why did we
change them? Why, if we wanted to name them, were they named in honor of
pagan deities?

Days of the week:

The First Day: Sunday was named after the Sun god.

The second Day: Monday was named after the moon goddess.

The Third Day: Tuesday was named after the god Tyr.

The Fourth Day: Wednesday was named after the god Odin.

The Fifth Day: Thursday was named after the god Thor.

The Sixth Day: Friday was named after the goddess Frigga.

The Seventh Day: Saturday was named after the god Saturn.

Is GOD pleased with the names of week days?

Where did we get the names for the days of the week?

Sunday: The first day of the week According to Colliers Sierra 1998 Encyclopedia: From prehistoric times until the fifth century AD, sun
worship was the most common religion. In EgyptAton, the sun disk, was
used as a symbol of Ra, the sun god in Egyptian religion. This symbol
was found in the oldest pyramids. When the Israelites came to
Palestine,they found sun worshippers using the form of Baal-hammon. The
latter part of the title means “sun images”. Sunday got its name from
the “day of the sun worshippers”. Should Christians use Sunday as a
worship day just because the sun worshippers did?

 Monday, The second day of the week, gets its name from the ancient observance of feast days dedicated to the moon as a goddess or a planet. Most
European Calendars list a day sacred to the moon.

 Tuesday, the third day of the week, gets its name from Tiw’s day. Tiw is derived from Tyr of Tir, the son of Odin, or Woden, the Norse god of war.

 Wednesday, the fourth day of the week, gets its name from the Scandinavian Woden, the chief deity of Norse mythology. In Anglo-Saxon, it appears as
Wodnesdaeg.

Thursday, the fifth day of the week, gets its name from the middle English Thoresday or Thursdaye. Thor, the god of strength and thunder, is the counterpart of Jupiter or Jove.

 Friday, the sixth day of the week, gets its name from Frigg. This is the name given to the wife of the god Odin & meaning “beloved” or “loving”.
Its corresponding Latin name is Dies Veneris, a day dedicated to Venus.

Saturday, the seventh day of the week, gets its name from the Roman “Dies Saturni”, or the day of Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. This is
the only day of the week that takes its name from a Roman deity.

Months:

JANUARY:

Named for Janus, the Roman mighty one of portals and patron of beginnings and endings, to whom this month was sacred. He is shown as having two
faces, one in front, the other at the back of his head, supposedly to
symbolize his powers.

FEBRUARY:

This name is derived from Februa, a Roman festival of purification. It was originally the month of expiation.

MARCH:

It is named for Mars, the Roman mighty one of war.

APRIL:

This name comes from the Latin APRILIS, indicating a time of Fertility. It was believed that this month is the month when the earth was supposed to
open up for the plants to grow.

MAY:

This month was named for Maia, the Roman female deity of growth or increase.

JUNE:

This name is sometimes attributed to June, the female mighty one of the marriage, the wife of Jupiter in Roman mythology. She was also called
the "Queen of heaven" and " Queen of mighty ones." The name of this
month is also attributed to Junius Brutus, but originally it most
probably referred to the month in which crops grow to ripeness.

JULY:

Named for the Roman emperor Julius Caesar, this is the seventh month of the Gregorian year.

AUGUST:

Named for Octavius Augustus Caesar, emperor of Rome; the name was originally from augure, which means, "to increase."

SEPTEMBER:

This name is derived from the Latin septem, meaning "seven."

OCTOBER

This name comes from the Latin root octo, meaning "eight."

NOVEMBER:

This name is derived from Latin novem, meaning "ninth."

DECEMBER:

This name is derived from the Latin decem, meaning "ten.