Jan 18, 2018
The first month, according to Wikipedia, was called Januarius by the Romans, after Janus, the god of doors and gates. The same root is seen in janua, the Latin for a gate or opening. It became a custom among the Romans to pray to Janus whenever they undertook a new work because his significance as a door was the way in. He was also the god of the beginning of the day, and it was only natural that when a new month was added at the beginning of the year it should be named after him. During this month offerings to the god were made of meal, frankincense, and wine, each of which had to be brand new.
Since a gate opens both ways, Janus was thought to be able to see back into the past, and forward into the future. He was usually represented as having a double head that looked both forward and back. Early Roman coins show Janus with two bearded faces, with a staff in one hand, and a key in the other, He was also the protector of trade and shipping, and on some coins his head is shown with the prow of a ship. When people wished to picture him as the god of the year, they drew him holding the number 300 in one hand, and 65 in the other.
Janus was worshiped on the Janiculum (Hill of Janus), one of the seven hills of Rome. Since he was the God of Gates, all the gates of Rome were under his care, especially the archway through which the army marched to war, and by which it returned. This archway was afterwards replaced by a temple which was called Janus Quadrifrons--that is, four-sided--because it was square. There were three windows and one door on each side of the building, making twelve windows and four doors representing the twelve months and the four seasons. In times of war the temple gates were kept wide open so that people could continually make offerings to the god. During times of peace, the gates were tightly closed. As we know the Romans were continually fighting, it is not surprising that the gates of the temple were closed only three times in seven hundred years.
Janus was said to be the son of Apollo, the God of the Sun, whose daily task it was to drive across the sky in his chariot of fire. Each morning when Aurora, the Goddess of the Dawn, had opened the gates of the East, Apollo set forth, and when, his task accomplished, he reached the Western Ocean, he returned to his palace in the East.
Among the Angles and Saxons the name of this month was Wulfmonath (Wolf month), since it was the time of year when the wolves were unable to find food, and their hunger made them bold enough to come into the villages.
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