by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: January 19, 2009   Last Updated: January 21, 2009

While most things appear out of control in our present time, we can be certain the first month of the new year was named appropriately. Janus, the ancient Roman god of beginnings, lends his name to the month of January. It was, however, Janurius, and not January. Quite fitting, they honored him by setting aside January 9. as his feast day. Furthering their celebrations of him, they constructed massive door and gates that led nowhere but were only used symbolically. As an example, gate keepers left open the doors and gates when Rome was at war, but closed them during peaceful times.

As the god of beginnings, he tore down no bridges behind himself but instead, looked backward and forward at the same time. Thus his symbolic picture of a two-headed person, one face looking forward, the other backward. Their coins depicted this image.

When we think about it, it is altogether fitting that the first month of the year should be named Janus. A new calendar is unwrapped and a new year begins, but memories of the old year, and memories of others, lingers. These are inot automatically severed and before any serious New Year undertakings can begin, the past year's memories must be carefully tucked away. This is the way it is. or the way it should be according to the early Roman Gods and, believe it or not, human nature.

We are endowed with a wonderful brain and it starts out being an effective system of acting and doing and file keeping and just and honorable retrievable. In the perfect model, that its. Yet where it all fails is in human fallibililty which pretended to more than it actually was. Shortcomings and false starts and lies, and jealousy and hatred; in other words the seven deadly sins of man kind that the one and only God, the creator of the perfect brain, envisioned it.

Laying that aside for the time being it is now back to the pagan festivals who did their best to honor their god of new beginnings: Therefore, it is probable that the festival priorities were remembered and celebrated by thanking and praising their God Janus; while at the same time petitioning him for favors for the New Year. If that sounds pagan to us today, of course it is. However, we need to be reminded that many of our celebrations today, legitimate and otherwise, had such beginnings.

Old habits do not die away and are forgotten, they resurface now and then and often are brought to life by being gently grafting onto present day happenings. Thus, our relatively new celebration of Christmas has

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