January in History
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birthdays and history:
About the Month of January
January is the 1st month of the year and has 31 days.
Season (Northern Hemisphere): Winter
Holidays
New Years Day
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Australia Day
National Book Month
National Thank You Month
National Eye Care Month
National Volunteer Blood Donor Month
National Soup Month
Symbols of January:
- Birthstone: Garnet
- Flower: Carnation
- Zodiac signs: Capricorn and Aquarius
History:
January was named after the Roman god Janus. Janus is also the Roman word for door. The god Janus had two faces which allowed him to look forwards into the coming year and backwards into the past year.
The original Roman calendar only had 10 months. January and February were not included, but were added later.
January in Other Languages
- Chinese (Mandarin) - yiyuè
- Danish - januar
- Italian - gennaio
- Latin - Ianuarius
- French - janvier
- Spanish - enero
Historical Names:
- Roman: Januarius
- Saxon: Giuli
- Germanic: Schnee-mond (Snow month)
Interesting Facts about January
- On average, it is the coldest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
- It is the second month of winter.
- In the Southern Hemisphere January is a summer month the equivalent of July.
- Sometimes the Saxons called January the wolf month because hungry wolves would come into their towns searching for food this time of year.
- For a long period of European history, the start of the New Year occurred in March.
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