{"id":1307,"date":"2026-01-12T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/?p=1307"},"modified":"2026-01-12T13:04:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T13:04:05","slug":"january-1st-new-years-day-almanacs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/january-1st-new-years-day-almanacs\/","title":{"rendered":"January & Almanacs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Relief sculpture of the God Janus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

January is when people buy diaries, calendars and almanacs. January is named after the Roman God Janus. He faces both ways, to the old year and forward to the New Year. January is Ionawr in Welsh. An ceud Mhios Biadhna in Gaelic meaning ‘the first month of the year’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a Roman Barrel from Scotland is shown on the Trimontium Web Site with the name Januarius on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Almanacs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Arguably, they grew from medieval manuscript Books of Hours. The 1493 Kalendar of Shepherds, published in Paris, was particularly important. Each month has a succinct description of the activity. Moreover, there was important information for farmers and others. Eventually, a British version was made. <\/p>\n\n\n

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From the Kalendar of Shepherdes (illus. 1529)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Kalendar of Shepherds<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Kalendar of Shepherds was printed in 1493 in Paris and provided ‘Devices for the 12 Months.’ I use a modern (1908) reconstruction of it using wood cuts from the original French and adding various text from English 16th and 17th Century sources. The text of the month (as shown above) is provided from a 17th Century source. It gives an interesting view of the countryside in January. To see the full Kalendar, look here:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicholas Breton, the writer of the text above, concludes that January:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘is a time of little comfort, the rich man’s charge, and the poore man’s misery.’ <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rich man is burdened by having to help out all the poor people who depending upon him to get through the shortages of winter. The image for January shows that January is best spent indoors by a roaring fire, eating pies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Months of Your Life<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Kalendar introduces a ‘conceit’ which is that the year mirrors our lives, and we can forecast what will happen in our lives by looking at the months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kalendar
Kalendar of Shepherds, January text<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So our lives, which are of 72 years, can be divided into 12 ages of man, each of 6 years. So, January represents the first 6 years of a person’s life. And as you can see, that during these first 6 years, the child is ‘without witte, strength, or cunning, and may do nothing that profiteth<\/em>‘. As the year changes every month, so, ‘a man change himself twelve times in his life’. At three times 6 (18 or March) a child becomes a man, and 6 times 6 (36 or June) man is at his best and highest. And at 12 times 6 (72 or December) man is at the end of his allotted span.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shakespeare numbered the Ages of Man as seven, in the great speech of Jacques in ‘As You Like it’ I dealt with this and other Ages of the World in my post<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Greater Cycles & the Ages of Man December 19th<\/a><\/blockquote>