JANUS HOLDS THE KEY FOR 2009

Lionel WIJESIRI

For years, I was unable to understand why January 1st was celebrated as the beginning of a New Year. Why do people take this day as an important beginning of their lives? For me, 1st January is just a particular day in a particular month. It's not a significant day. On this day, there are no astrological changes of the planets. There are no changes in the lunar pattern. History does not even record the birth of any extraordinary leader. Why? I wanted to find an answer. So I went back through the history. Whether I found the right answer or not, I do not know. But the facts revealed were startling.

January is named for Janus, the god of the doorway; the name has its beginnings in Roman mythology, coming from the Latin word for door (ianua). Traditionally, the original Roman calendar consisted of 10 months, from March to December, totalling 304 days, winter being considered a period without allocation of months.

The earliest Roman calendar is said to have been devised by Romulus, (born 771 BC) the mythical founder of Rome. This organised its months around three days, each of which served as a reference point for counting the other days: Kalends (1st day of the month) : Nones (the 7th day in March, May, July, and October; the 5th in the other months): Ides (the 15th day in March, May, July, and October; the 13th in the other months) The remaining, unnamed days of the month were identified by counting backwards from the Kalends, Nones, or the Ides. For example, March 3 would be V Nones-5 days before the Nones.

Around 713 BC, the Roman king Numa Pompilius, is supposed to have added the months of January and February, allowing the calendar to equal a standard lunar year (355 days). Some Roman writers say it happened during the time of Decemvirs about 450 BC.

Various Christian feast dates were used for the New Year in Europe during the Middle-Ages, including March 25 and December 25. However, medieval calendars were still displayed in the Roman fashion of twelve columns from January to December. Beginning in the 16th century, European countries began officially making January 1st the start of the New Year once again - sometimes called Circumcision Style because this was the date of the Feast of the Circumcision, being the 8th day from December 25.

Divinity

The most ancient sites of what will later become the city of Rome, to which we can trace the presence of peoples of which the most ancient history narrates, are recognized in the heights of the Janiculum hill, the Capitoline, the ancient Saturnia, and the Palatine and the ancient Pallanteo.

Janiculum, the second highest hill in the contemporary city of Rome was believed to be the centre for the cult of the god Janus.

Because of its stunning location overlooking the city, it is said that the cult's priests would stand atop the hill and look for auspices or signs from the gods.

On this hill, in a period much earlier than the Trojan War, there was proof according to tradition, that Janus, at his death was made a god and is still today remembered as the most important pagan divinity of Rome.

From his son, Tiberius, comes the name of the river of Rome, the Tiber.

It was Janus who gave hospitality to the god Saturn, who settled on the Capitoline hill, which at the time was, in fact, called Saturnia. The Capitoline Hill is one of the famous seven hills of modern Rome. The Capitoline contains few ancient ground-level ruins, as they are almost entirely covered up by medieval palaces (now the Capitoline Museums). A significant portion of the architecture in this area was later designed by Michelangelo.

Exclusively a Roman divinity, the origin of Janus is very ancient. For some historians he came from an ancient Arcadic king before Roman Empire, for others, even more ancient, Janus came from Thessaly, an extensive Neolithic culture around 2500 BC.

Worship

Some Indian texts reveal that the origin of Janus may be traced back to the mythology of India. Janus, with his wife and sister Camasane, half-fish and half human being, as sometimes represented, can only be explained by a comparison with the avatars, the descents or incarnations of the Hindu deities.

The temple of Janus in Rome was situated in a street named Argiletum, an important road that connected the Roman Forum and the residential areas in the northeast. It was a small, wooden temple, and the building material suggests that the cult of Janus was of a venerable old age. The oldest lists of gods usually began with his name; he was surnamed divom deus, a very ancient form of Latin meaning "the god's god"; and his portrait can be found on the oldest Roman coins.

A second altar was erected on the hill Oppius, which played a role in the ceremonies when a boy became a man. Consul Marcus Duillius built a temple on the Forum Holitorium, after his naval victory off Mylae (260 BC). It was rebuilt by the emperor Tiberius. In this temple, twelve altars were erected, dedicated to the twelve months (one of them, January, was perhaps called after the god).

The original worship of Janus must be ascribed to the Etruscans. (Etruscan civilisation is the modern English name given to the culture and way of life of a people of ancient Italy and Corsica whom the ancient Romans called Etrusci . The civilisation endured from an unknown prehistoric time prior to the founding of Rome until its complete assimilation to Rome in the Roman Republic).

Janus was regarded as the inspector of Heaven by Etruscans, and therefore of all transactions. An image of the god with four faces came from Valerii to Rome, which is supposed to have reference to the four regions of Heaven.

In Rome he was usually represented with two faces, one before and one behind. There was an ancient statue of this deity in the Forum, which is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city.

It is said to be as old as the time of Numa, of which the fingers were so formed that those of one hand represented three hundred (CCC), those of the other fifty-five (LV), the number of the days of the ancient lunar year. All this is explicable on the supposition of Janus being the sun, the author of the year, with its seasons, months, and days.

Similar Gods

Janus was invoked at the commencement of most actions; even in the worship of the other gods the votary began by offering wine and incense to Janus. The first month in the year was named from him; and he was regarded as the opener of the day. Thus, under these and similar points of view, Janus reveals himself to us as exactly similar to the gods of the year in the Egyptian, Persian, and Phoenician mythologies. Like Osiris, Sem Heracles, Dschemschid, and others, he represents the year personified in its development through the twelve signs of the zodiac, with its exaltation and its fall, and with all the plenitude of its gifts.

His representation of two faces has various explanations. It recalls to our minds the figures, no less strange and significant, of the Hindu divinities. Original Janus with four faces is identical in appearance with the Brahma of India. As the gods who preside over nature and the year, in the oriental systems, raise themselves to the higher offices of gods of time, eternity, and infinity, so it seems to have been with the western Janus.

On New-Year's day, which was the principal festival of Janus, people took care that all they thought, said, and did, was pure and favourable, since everything was considered as ominous for the occurrences of the whole year. Hence the people wore festive garments, abstained from cursing and quarrelling, saluted all they met with kind words, exchanged presents, and performed some part of what they intended to do in the course of the year. The presents consisted of sweet-meats, such as gilt dates, figs, honey cakes, and copper coins showing on one side the double head of Janus, and on the other a ship. So, this is the story of the New Year. In few days' time, you will go back 2000 years and like the ancient Romans, will celebrate the Festival of Janus exactly the way they did it. Keep up the tradition and have fun. Happy New Year!