“HAPPY NEW YEAR IN MARCH?”

Don’t worry – I haven’t gone mad…far from it! I’d often wondered why the origin of names of the months from September to December indicate, the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth months. So, in a year of twelve months, that puts February at the end of the year and March at the beginning!

And so I’ve done some research, and very interesting it was too!

The early Roman calendar designated March 1 as the New Year but in 46 B.C. Julius Caesar introduced a new, solar-based calendar and decreed that the New Year would occur with January 1. This was adopted throughout the Roman Empire, but things were rather complex in medieval Europe. In 567 the Council of Tours abolished January 1 as the beginning of the year and depending on where you happened to be, it was possible to celebrate the New Year on December 25th, at Easter, March 1st or even March 25th (the Feast of the Annunciation).

For example, from 1087 to 1155 the English year began on January 1st, but from 1155 to 1751 the year began on 25 March!

Yet over the course of time, countries decided to adopt January 1 as the official start of the year and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was one of the first to do that. In 1582, the Gregorian calendar reform restored January 1 as New Year’s Day, and most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar almost immediately; indeed, Spain and Portugal had been celebrating January 1st since 1556 and France followed suit in 1564 (with the exception of Lorraine whose inhabitants had to wait until 1579!). However, it was only gradually adopted among Protestant countries. The British, for example, did not adopt the reformed calendar until 1752. Until then, the British Empire —and their American colonies— still celebrated the New Year in March…with the exception of Scotland who had re-adopted January 1st as the start of the year in 1600!

Outside Europe, things are not clear either…

The country of Ethiopia uses its own calendar, and the Ethiopian New Year, called Enqutatash, is celebrated on September 11 or September 12 based on the leap year.

The Persian New Year, known as Nowruz, will be celebrated this year on March 20th. Indeed, in 2010, the UN's General Assembly referred to it as a spring festival of Persian origin which has been celebrated for over 3,000 years.

The Tibetan New Year, known as Losar, officially began on February 9th, and it is year of the Male Fire Monkey, whilst the Berber calendar celebrated the first day of 2966 on January 11th.

The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is generally celebrated between September and October. This day is believed to be the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve.

The Islamic year begins on the first day of Muharram, and is counted from the year of the Hegira (anno Hegirae) the year in which Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina (A.D. July 16, 622). The current Islamic year began in October 2015.

And then, just to make things even simpler, various professional have their own organization!

The British legal year commences at the beginning of October, with a ceremony dating back to the Middle Ages. The fiscal year for the purposes of personal taxation and payment of state benefits runs from 6 to 5 April. The academic year, from September to July and the football year from September to June.

In short, we could probably wish each other a “Happy First of September” if we really wanted to, and how about a “Happy Spring Equinox”. Furthermore, I once went to a party in April to celebrate the Belgian New Year!!!

So whatever you are doing, I hope you are healthy, happy and optimistic about the future…and feel to wish me a happy new year (or happy anything else for that matter) whenever you want…

march