January is the first month of the year according to the Gregorian calendar, which is used in almost all the world today. The month is named for Janus, the Roman god of beginnings. According to Roman legend, the ruler Numa Pompilius added January and February to the end of the 10-month Roman calendar in about 700 B.C. He gave January 29 days. Later, the Romans made January the first month of the year. In 46 B.C., the Roman statesman Julius Caesar added two days to January, making it 31 days long. The Anglo-Saxons called the first month Wolfmonth, because wolves came into the villages in winter in search of food.
January 1 is celebrated as New Year’s Day in most countries. The third Monday of January is a federal holiday in the United States in honor of the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday falls on January 15.
Most Christian churches celebrate Epiphany on January 6, the 12th day after Christmas. The holiday commemorates the arrival of the wise men from the East bearing gifts for the infant Jesus. In Latin America, this day is celebrated as Dia de los Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day). Children receive gifts on this day, supposedly from the wise men. In Sweden, St. Canute’s Day (also spelled Cnut or Knut), is celebrated on January 13. This holiday marks the end of the Christmas season. In Norway, a similar holiday is called Tyvendedagen (Twentieth Day), because it falls on the twentieth day after Christmas.
Many Hindus celebrate a harvest festival called Makara Sankranti or Pongal in mid-January. During this holiday, many people bathe in the Ganges River, India’s most sacred river. They give alms (charity), eat newly harvested rice, and eat sweets to symbolize the wish for sweet words throughout the year.
January flowers are the carnation and the snowdrop. The garnet is the birthstone for January.
