The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-02-05
Concerning January.

According to the ancient mythology,
Janus was the god of gates and avenues
and in that character held q key in his
right hand and q rod in his left. to sym-
s0olze his opening and ruling the year
Sometimes he bore the number 800 in
one hand and 65 in the other, the num-
Der OF its days. At other times he was
represented with four heads, and placed
In temple of four equal sides, with q
door and three windows in each side,
as emblems of the four seasons and
the twelve months over which he pre-
sided.
Fosbrooke, in his valuable " "Encyclo.
pedla OF Antiquities" adduces various
authorities to show that congratulations,
presents, and visits were made by the
Romans on New Years Day. The orr
gin, he says, is ascribed to Romulus
and Tatius, and than the usual presents
were figs and dates, covered with leaf
gold, and sent by clients to patrons,
accompanied with a piece of money,
which was expended to purchase the
statues of deities. New Years gifts
were continued under the Roman en-
perors until they were prohibited by
Claudius.
Thomas Naogeorgus, in ''The Popish
kingdome," Latin poem written I'M
AOOOS d14A AAAE4SACA NY DdkAhOO SOO6O
after remarking on days of the old
year, urges this recollection:
The next to this is Newe Yeares Day,
whereon to every frende
They costly presents in do bring,
and and Newe Yeares gifts do senae
and father eke the childe,
And master on his men bestowes
the like, with favour milde.
Honest old Latimer, instead of pre-
<,&
gold, as was customary, for a New
Years gift, put into the Kings hand a
new Testament, with a leaf conspicu-
ously doubled down at Hebrews, Nil.
DIR. Drake is of opinion that the
wardrobe and iewelry of Queen Eliza
beth were principally supported by
these New Years contributions. Nearly
all the peers and peeresses, all the
bishops, the chief officers of state, the
Queens household servants, even down
to her apothecaries, master cook, ser
geant of the pastry, gave her gifts, and
although she made returns to these in
gifts of plate and other articles, she
| took care that the balance should be in
| her own favor.
Charles Lambs delightful essay on
New Years Eve begins with Z" Every
man hath two birthdays; two days, at
least, in every year, which set him upon
revolving the lapse of time, as it affects
| his mortal duration. The one is that
which in an especial manner he termeth
his. In the gradual desuetude of old
observances this custom of solemnizing
| our proper birthday hath nearly passed
away, or is left to children, who reflect
nothing at all about the matter, nor un-
derstand anything beyond the cake and
| orange. But the birth of new year
is of an interest too wide to be prefer
mitted by king or cobbler. No one
ever regarded the 1st Of January with
indifference. It is that frona which all
date their time, and count upon what is
left. It is the nativity of our common
| Adam"
Pins were acceptable New Years
gifts to the ladies, instead of the wooden
skewers which they used till the end OF
the fifteenth century. Sometimes they
received composition in money, an6
hence allowance for their separate use
came to be called spin money"
It was on the 1st of January, 1908
that William Tell associated himsel
with band of his countrymen agains
the tyranny of their oppressors. Fol
upward of three centuries the opposi
ton was carried on, and terminated in
the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648, de-
claring the independence of Switzer
land.
i On the 1st of January, 1851, Charlie.
II. was crowned at Scone King of the
Scots.
| On the 1st of January, 1901, the uniol
of Great Britain with Ireland com
menced by act of Parliament, and Irish
men have been thinking about tina
little matter ever since.
On the same day, Jan. l, 1901, Piazzi
the astronomer at Palermo, discovere,
Ceres-a new primary planet, making
the eleventh of that order.