Here in England, the date of the beginning of the new year has changed many times during our history.
When William the Conqueror first placed his Norman boots on English soil, he decided to do away with the old Anglo Saxon New Year celebration of the Winter Solstice on the 25th December, he forced us to celebrate it on the 1st of January, so it would fit in nicely with the organisation of his coronation.
No doubt the king went around shouting that it was his idea, but it wasn't, in fact it was Julius Caesar's. Caesar decided that the God Janus, represented the New Year very well seeing as he could look into the past and the future at the same time. So everyone dressed up fancy clothes, (togas were a big favourite,) went around being nice to one another, doing as little work as possible, and consuming large amount of wine, dates, figs and honey.
Sounds familiar.
Sounds familiar.
Janus didn't spot poor Caesar downfall though did he? You know what happened to him.
No more spiced wine and figs after that!
In the year 567, the Council of Tours decided that the New Years should not be celebrated, prayers were to be said instead and there was to be no dancing whatsoever .
This new law wouldn't have concerned the clergy that much, they were worried about other changes the council was making. The bishop, for instance, had to treat his wife as a sister, monks worried that if there was more than one of them in a cell they each had to take turns in staying awake and reading to the rest, and no women were allowed in religious houses at all.
What a load of party poopers!
On the whole people of the secular community were less worried, the medieval Europeans considered the New Year to be a Pagan festival, and therefore couldn't care less. The only ones to care were the party organisers, now they would have been up in arms about the date change, think about all that printed stationary and party balloons gone to waste!
However, they need not have worried, it took another 550 years for the date to be changed again. As time passed England went along with the rest of Europe and we moved our New Year to the 25th of March, it remained at this date until 1752 when we decided that Caesar's idea was a good idea after all and we reverted back to using the 1st of January as the beginning of the year.
And on that note I would like to wish you all a very
Happy New Year
No more spiced wine and figs after that!
In the year 567, the Council of Tours decided that the New Years should not be celebrated, prayers were to be said instead and there was to be no dancing whatsoever .
This new law wouldn't have concerned the clergy that much, they were worried about other changes the council was making. The bishop, for instance, had to treat his wife as a sister, monks worried that if there was more than one of them in a cell they each had to take turns in staying awake and reading to the rest, and no women were allowed in religious houses at all.
What a load of party poopers!
On the whole people of the secular community were less worried, the medieval Europeans considered the New Year to be a Pagan festival, and therefore couldn't care less. The only ones to care were the party organisers, now they would have been up in arms about the date change, think about all that printed stationary and party balloons gone to waste!
However, they need not have worried, it took another 550 years for the date to be changed again. As time passed England went along with the rest of Europe and we moved our New Year to the 25th of March, it remained at this date until 1752 when we decided that Caesar's idea was a good idea after all and we reverted back to using the 1st of January as the beginning of the year.
And on that note I would like to wish you all a very
Happy New Year
RSS Feed
