Happy New Year!!!

The party is over and another year has gone. A new decade to begin. Way back when the Romans had a god named Janus. He was the god of doors and gates and had two faces—one looking forward and one looking back. Julius Caesar thought it would be appropriate for January, Janus's namesake month, to be the doorway to a new year, and when he created the Julian calendar, he made January 1 the first day of the year (this also put the calendar year in line with the consular year, as new consuls also took office that day).

An error in Caesar's calendar had caused the Julian year to become misaligned with the solar year. By 1582, the difference had grown to 10 days. Over the years, the Spring Equinox (and, with it, Easter) kept getting moved up, and Pope Gregory XIII was tired of having to reset the holiday. Gregory devised a new calendar that used a single leap day every four years to keep it aligned. He also restored January 1 as the first day of the year.

Happy New Year!!! May all your dreams come true this year or at least this decade.