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It is the beginning of the new year and the time to make New Year resolutions. January was established as the first month of the year by the Roman Calendar¹. It was named after the god Janus （Latin word for door）. Janus has two faces which allowed him to look both backwards into the old year and forwards into the new one at the same time. He was the “spirit of the opening”. In the very earliest Roman calendars there were no months of January orFebruary at all. The ancient Roman calendar had only ten months and the new year started the year on 1 March. To the Romans, ten was a very important number. Even when January （or Januarius as the Romans called it） was added, the New Year continued to start in March. It remained so in England and her colonies until about 200 years ago.

New Year’s Day is the first day of the year, in the Gregorian calendar². In modern times, it is the 1st January. It is a time for looking forward and wishing for a good year ahead. It is also a holiday. People welcome in the New Year on the night before. This is called New Year’s Eve. In Scotland, people celebrate with a lively festival called Hogmanay³. All over Britain there are parties, fireworks, singing and dancing, to ring out the old year and ring in the new. As the clock—Big Ben—strikes midnight, people link arms and sing a song called Auld Lang Syne. It reminds them of old and new friends.

Twelfth Night—Evening before Epiphany. Twelfth Night marks the end of the medieval Christmas festivities （the 12-day season after Christmas ending with Epiphany）. Also called Twelfth Day Eve.

St Distaff’s Day was the day on which women had to return to work with the distaff（another name for a spindle） after the Christmas holiday.

Burns Night was the day on which the people of Scotland honour their greatest poet, Robert Burns. He was born on 25th January approximately 250 years ago （1759） and wrote his first song when he was sixteen. A traditional Scottish meal is tatties （potato） and haggis washed down with whisky.