Why Does January First Start the New Year? - New Year's Explained

CORRECTIONS: 1. Julius Caesar was not technically the first emperor of Rome, he declared himself dictator for life but did not establish a hereditary monarchy. His cousin, who succeeded him, Augustus, established the monarchy and was thus the first emperor. 2. I mispronounced Aloysius Lilius. It's like "Allowishus" which is a name I had heard, but never seen spelled! 3. The picture of Rome I used was MUCH LATER than 46 BC In which Hank goes deep (but not too deep) into the reasons why our calendar begins on January 1st, and why January 1st is when it is. I left a lot out, actually, like why Numa was so down with January and where the names of all the months come from. It's pretty fascinating stuff. Also, I'd like to say that just because things are arbitrary does not mean they aren't valuable. I think New Year's is a lovely holiday and I am super down with celebrating it, even if the day that we happen to celebrate it on is not special in any way at all (except that it happened to be the date of the new moon 2061 years ago.)