Happy belated New Year! January is the first month of the year, and it’s filled with people making resolutions and promises of lifestyle changes (if you can keep them). In addition to one of the biggest celebrations New York City sees every year, January has many more celebrations, traditions and fun facts.
Two-hundred years ago, January was not the month where resolutions were made. According to the Roman calendar, March started the New Year. Once England added January, they named it after the god Janus. Janus apparently had two faces which allowed him to look backwards into the old year and forwards into the new one at the same time — pretty fitting for the first month of the year.
It is an old Saxon belief that Jan. 2 is one of the unluckiest days of the year. People born on this day were expected to die an unpleasant death. So, Kate Bosworth, Taye Diggs and Cuba Gooding Jr. better watch out. On the other hand, for people born one day earlier, their birthdays are one big party. You could say Betsy Ross, Paul Revere and J. Edgar Hoover were some very lucky people.
More celebrations in January include Martin Luther King, Jr. day, which is on Jan. 16 this year. Inauguration Day takes place every four years following the Presidential election. There won’t be one this year, but next year it will be on Jan. 20.
January observances include: Hobby Month, School Board Month, Oatmeal Month and Cervical Health Awareness Month. It is also Blood Donor Month, so expect to be hounded by blood bank employees and volunteers.
Historically, January is also a very popular month. The Gulf War began on Jan. 16, 1991. The first Superbowl game was played on Jan. 15, 1967 with the Green Bay Packers vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. The first heart transplant was performed on Jan. 24, 1964, and Samuel Morse first demonstrated the telegraph on Jan. 6, 1838.
Most importantly, January is the reason you’re reading this article. January is back to school month. Welcome back NSU Sharks. I hope you have a great start to another semester.
