This isn't New Year

[Saravanan Gopalan]

Hi,

January 1 is not a new year. Even if someone calls it "English New Year" it is still not a beginning of a year.

Ancient civilizations (including ours) treated Sun's transit from Pisces into Aries as the beginning of a year. Some took the point of exit of Sun from Pisces. Some took the middle point (when half of the Sun is into Aries). Some called it a new year when the Sun was fully into Aries. In addition, elders used other indicators from Mother Nature to call it a new year.

Though January is named after Lord Janus (the lord of beginning - like our Ganapathy), it was April that used to be Roman's first month. This was, again, based on the theory I outlined above. There are 2 theories on how January made it to the beginning:

1. A tyrant Roman emperor switched the new year from April to January as he was very fond of Lord Janus. Then, he turned his official machinery and supporters on those who still continued to celebrate new year on April. They were ridiculed as, "April Fools"!!!

2. Nowadays, December 25 is considered to be the birth day of Jesus Christ. I think this tradition started recently (few hundred to 1000 years). Before that January 1 was considered to be Jesus' birth day. Hence, the new started on January 1.

So, January 1 is not the beginning of a new year; let alone, English New Year.

If anybody has any more material to support or against these theories, do send in your responses.

Thanks.

Regards,

Saravanan

[srinivasa raghavan]

Thanks for the various historic information.

 

Still, personally I feel that the debate of this kind is not required and the research in this angle may not be a productive one.

 

Simple logic is that if you are using the English calender, then this is the begining. In addition to this, there are other beginings also. for eg. Tamilians use the Tamil Calender and Chithirai 1 will be the new year for them (and obviously not Thai 1).

 

Lets not complicate our life.

 

Cheers

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From: Saravanan Gopalan <raman...@gmail.com>
To: vgnngr_welfa...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, 7 January, 2010 7:57:35 AM
Subject: This isn't New Year

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[Saravanan Gopalan]

Thanks for the reply.

There is no complication here. If Chithirai 1, as you pointed out, can be remembered, one can remember April 1 as well.

Research is productive as long as one gets something out of it. It can be anything from personal satisfaction to monetary benefits. What is unproductive for one person may be highly productive to someone else. It is relative.

Rgds,

S