2 Jan 2012

The God of Beginnings - Janus



January was established as the first month of the year by the
Roman Calendar.  It was named after the god Janus (latin word for door).
Janus has two faces which allowed him to look both backwards
into the old year and forwards into the new one at the same time.
He was the spirit of 'opening'


The Anglo-Saxons called the first month
Wolf monath
because wolves came into the villages in winter in search
of food.

It was an old Saxon belief that 2nd January
was one of the unluckiest days of the whole year.
Those unfortunate enough to be born on this day could expect
to die an unpleasant death.



On this date in 1770 a huge Christmas pie was baked for holiday
consumption in London, according to the Newcastle Chronicle,
it was made of two bushels of flour, twenty pounds of butter, four geese,
two turkeys, two rabbits, four wild ducks, two woodcocks,
six snipes, four partridges, two neats' tongues,
two curlews, seven blackbirds and six pigeons.
It was nearly nine feet in circumference and weighed
about 12 stones.

Capricorn (the Goat) December 22nd-January 20th

Capricorn is represented by a Goat with crooked horns and the hind
parts of a fish.  The goat is Pan, the lusty and licentious god
normally portrayed as a bearded, curly-haired human with legs, tail and
horns of a goat.  On plunging into the Nile to escape from the
might Typhon, the father of dangerous winds, his upper part
became wholly goat and the submerged parts changed into those of
a fish.  The story is remarkably like that of Pisces.

4 comments:

  1. Glad I missed the 2nd of Jan by 24 hours!!

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  2. I always did think that old Janus was a two-faced ba***rd!

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  3. I hadn't heard that about Capricorn or the 2nd January before - I enjoy learning interesting bits and pieces like that. The Anglo Saxon 'Wolf Month' is my favourite as I have a tremendous admiration for wolves.

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  4. An enjoyable, and informative, post. I like that wolf picture. Flighty xx

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