Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-12-12

tey Hhntley.
| Why January is New Year.
Every one knows that January | is
the beginning of the year, but not
every one knows why it is 50. 1t
marks no natural division of time nor
any event in the worlds history which
would give it such distinction. The
winter solstice-that is, the period
when the sun appears to reach its
greatest southern declension, or fur
thest point south of the equator, occurs
December %, nine days before the new
year begins. The summer solstice,
another natural division of time,
occurs on June %, point nearly as
far removed from the new year as the
calendar permits. The natural divis-
ions of time which suggest themselves
at once to the practical observer are
the winter and summer SOlSticeS and
the vernal and autumnal equinoXes,
periods at which the days and nights
have equal length or their greatest
difference These having been neglect
ed, the moons phases would seem to
have been most likely to be fixed upon.
But imperial Caesar, who in 46 b. c.
gave us our new year, governed by
caprice or reasons of the most tempo
rary duration, departed from the
former Roman system of reckoning the
year from the winter solstce and made
the commencement on January | for
no better reason than the desire to
inaugurate his reform with new
moon.
The CHsarcan system, devised by
the aid of Losigenes, constituted the
ordinary year of 365 days and the
fourth Or extraordinary year of 36b
The subdivision of the year into
months was similar to the present sys-
ten. This division of time, though
imperfect, is still practiced in Russia.
The error was in giving the year
365 IA days, which is too much by
about eleven minutes. Pope Gregory
XIII ordered October ), 1882, to be
called the 18th, and that all centural
years which are not multiples Of 400
should not he leap years, which omis-
sion Of three leap years in every 400
years gives the civil year an average
length of 365 days, hours, 40 minutes
and Il seconds, which still exceeds the
true solar year by fraction of u sec
ond which amounts to day only in
1856 years. The present, or Gregori-
an, system is used by all Christendom,
except Russia. 1t was adopted by
England in 1852 and by France in
1864.
Prior to the reformation of the cal
endar by Julius Caesar, and many CEN
turies afterward, the methods Of divid-
ing time were various, complicated and
imperfect. The moon was the planet
which influenced and governed most
nations, and gave rise to universal
variance between the natural and civil
year. The religious feasts of the
Christian church are still regulated by
the moon. The Council of Nice pro-
vided that Easter, the central point by
which all other days in the church cal
endar are fixed, should fall on the first
Sunday after the first full moon Oc-
curing on or after March 81. The
complex method of making these lunar
periods correspond with the civil year
is evidence enough OF the difficulty of
arranging any system forthe ccmputa-
tion of time by the "inconstant moon"
Our week and month are not natural
divisions of time though some in
genious efforts have been made to
trace some connection between natural
phenomena and the period of seven
days.