A Short Note to Say Happy “Belated” New Year

A short note to say Happy “Belated” New Year

Apologies for being a day late to wish you a “Happy New Year”. Yes, I do realise that it was the 20th of March yesterday but, at least for those of us north of the equator, this is the time when everything truly begins.

The spring equinox, when the day and the night are equal in length, has been celebrated by many cultures throughout the history of humankind. Wouldn’t it be nice to adopt this tradition once again? Starting a new cycle when everything is waking up, growing and blossoming. This new beginning, which offers so much freshness, an abundance of colours, scents and new life feels so much more appropriate for welcoming a new year than the time of short days and freezing-cold nights.

When contemplating this idea, I came across a few fascinating articles talking about civilisations that followed the moon, like the ancient Britons, or the sun, like the Egyptians, or the Chinese who have followed both, the sun and the moon. Their calendar based on this principle is still in use today.

Over thousands of years, many sorts of calendars were utilised. The one most of us are familiar with originated from the early Roman calendar which has not changed much since Julius Caesar marked January 1st as the beginning of the new year (Julian Calendar). It was Pope Gregory XIII who in 1582 brought adjustments to the Julian calendar to realign it with the sun.

Would you, like me, rather celebrate the New Year with the smell of tree blossoms and birds chirping instead of shivering and wrapping yourselves in warm clothing?

Get lost, Julius Caesar, from now on I am celebrating the New Year on March 20th.