Gaea's

The ancient Roman calendar had only ten months, January and February didn’t exist so the new year started on 1 March. Numa, in his regulation of the Roman calendar called the first month Januarius after Janus, who was, at the time, the highest divinity. Even when January was added as the eleventh Roman month, the New Year continued to start in March. January was named after the god Janus who had 2 faces which allowed him to look both backwards into the old year and forwards into the new year at the same time. He was known as the “spirit of the opening”. January symbolises the opening of the New Year. In Roman mythology, Janus (Ianus) was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings.

It is said that Janus came from Thessaly and that he was welcomed by Camese in Latium, where they shared a kingdom. They married and had several children. When his wife died, Janus became the sole ruler of Latium. He sheltered Saturn when he was fleeing from Jupiter. Janus, as the first king of Latium, brought the people a time of peace and welfare; the Golden Age. He introduced money, cultivation of the fields and the laws. After his death he was deified and became the protector of Rome.

According to a legend, he had received from the god Saturn, in reward for the hospitality received, the gift to see both future and past. Graphically, Janus was represented with two faces, originally one face was bearded while the other was not (probably a symbol of the sun and the moon). Later both faces were bearded. In his right hand he holds a key. The double-faced head appears on many Roman coins and around the 2nd century BCE even with four faces.

Janus and Jana (Diana) were considered a pair of divinities and were worshipped as the sun and moon. They were regarded as the highest of the gods, and received their sacrifices before all the others.

Janus was the patron of concrete and abstract beginnings of the world (such as the religion and the gods themselves), the human life, new historical ages, and economical enterprises. He was also the god of the home entrance (ianua), gates and bridges. Covered and arcaded passages (iani) were often named after him. He was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one vision to another, the growing up of young people and of one universe to another. He was also known as the figure representing time because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other. Janus was worshipped at the beginning of the harvest and planting times, as well as marriages, births and other types of beginnings, especially the beginnings of important events in a person’s life. Janus also represents the transition between primitive life and civilization, between the countryside and the city, peace and war and youth and adulthood.

Related posts:

1. January 2010
2. Your interests
3. December 2009
4. Celtic Gods & Goddesses
5. The Earth Goddess – Gaea

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