Idk if this is a stupid question or not lol. Obviously when moving from one year to the next, January is right in front of December, e.g. December 2023 is right behind January 2024, but is there a reason that months were designed so that winter carries on into the next calendar year?
We have 12 months and 4 seasons, so each season perfectly divides into 3 months a season. With that in mind, why didn’t we design the months so that winter is in 3 consecutive months within the same calendar year?
I’m not sure if I’ve articulated what I mean properly, so let me know if further clarification is needed.
In: Planetary Science
As others have pointed out, Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar in 46 BC, and continued the practice of using January 1st.
However, that’s not the end of the story. At the same time, Alexandria and Egypt kept New Year’s day as 29 August. Some areas honored Augustus by using his birthday, 23 September. The Byzantines (Eastern Roman Empire) switched to using 1 September, and some Eastern Orthodox churches used that as the start the liturgical year for a long while. As Rome’s influence waned, everyone started doing their own thing, particular Christian areas. 25 December was popular in Medieval times, or Easter, or other religious events.
Catholic areas in Europe switched to 1 January around the same time as the Gregorian calendar was rolled out in the 16th Century.
Great Britain used Lady Day (The Feast of the Annunciation), 25 March. Except Scotland decided around 1600 to switch to 1 January. Which isn’t confusing at all. If you see old dates shown as something like “14 February 1701/02”, that means it was 1702 in Scotland (New Style), but still 1701 in other parts of Great Britain (Old Style). Even more confusing, the New Year’s celebration became 1 January, for a couple of centuries before it officially changed.
The British, and their colonies, switched to 1 January in 1752 with the “Calendar (New Style) Act of 1750”. The same act switched to the Gregorian calendar. The (at the time) 11-day difference meant that 25 March Julian was 5 April Gregorian. Britain’s tax day continues to be 5 April instead of moving it to 1 January, and other annual and quarterly dues continued in that fashion.
The US does not actually have a calendar law. The founders adopted British common law as written in 1776 unless overridden by an act of Congress.
Eastern Orthodox churches still on the Julian calendar use 1 January, but since there’s a 13-day difference between Julian and Gregorian, it occurs on everyone else’s 14 January.
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