January
January is the first month of the Gregorian calendar, the calendar used as the official calendar in much of the Western world .
January history
Yet January has not always existed. Centuries ago, the Romans did not yet have January and February . The moment a scientist found out that the year was not synchronized with the sun, January was invoked. This first month of the year was named after the Roman God of beginnings and endings. The name of this God was Janus. Janus had two faces. One of these faces looked to the past and the other looked to the future. The faces of Janus symbolize the month of January, in which many people look back on the previous year and at the same time focus on the new year.
New Year’s Day
On 1 January at 12 midnight, the New Year will be festively ushered in with graceful fireworks displays. Fireworks are not only intended as a beautiful decoration of the sky, but also have a special meaning. For example, the fireworks would symbolize the expulsion of evil. The evil spirits are said to be chased away by the fireworks and the new year is welcomed grandly.
The Winter
January is a month that has 31 days. It is one of the seven months that contains this number of days. The other months with 31 days are March , May , July , August and December . During all 31 days of the month of January it is winter. Winter starts in December and ends in March . January is also called the frost, hard and ice month. The month owes these names to the wintry weather. The nicknames of this first month of the year refer to the icy and cold weather.
Nicknames
In addition to the frost, hard and ice month, there are also other names for January. This month is also called the ‘wolf month’. This name of the month comes from the past and also has to do with winter. When there were still wolves in the Netherlands, they moved closer to civilization in January. The wolves did this because they were hungry. Due to the winter, food was scarce, so the wolves moved closer to civilization in search of food. Food could no longer be found for them because of the cold, so they went closer to the houses in search of food. The hungry wolves often found a lot of livestock in the inhabited world. A big meal for a hungry wolf.
The last name for this month is the tanning month or luw month. These two nicknames have the same meaning. This name was given to January, because this was the month when the skin of the animals was processed into leather. This is called tanning.