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January Ramblings

Source: Wikipedia

The month of January is named after the Roman God Janus - God of gates and doorways, entrances and exits and endings and beginnings. The word ‘janitor’ - caretaker of buildings - is also derived from ’Janus’. In portraits and sculptures Janus is represented as having two heads, facing opposite directions, symbolising his ability to see both into the Rethymnon Coffee Morning Bugle - January Ramblings past and into the future. According to legend he received this gift from the God Saturn by way of a thank-you present for hospitality offered (must have been quite a party!). The power to see forwards and backwards helped him when he was chasing after the nymph Carna. Once he had managed to lure her into his clutches he gave her the power over door hinges (well, I thought this was interesting!). Some sources say that Janus originally came from Thessaly, and archaeologists have found ‘Janus-like’ heads of Gods related to Hermes, so there is a Greek connection, too.

Despite the fact that Janus was a Roman God, in the original Roman calendar, January and February didn’t exist - winter was considered to be a ‘monthless’ period. It was not until around 713 BC that these months were added by King Numa Pompilus (don’t you just love the name!). During the Middle Ages, throughout Europe New Year was celebrated at different times—for example March 25th and December 25th. At some point during the 16th Century countries in Europe started to officially make January 1st the start of the year. This practice is sometimes referred to as adopting the circumcision style, as January 1st was also the Feast of the Circumcision.

Greek Name Days in January

January 1st: Saint Basil ‘Agios Vasilis’

Rethymnon Coffee Morning Bugle - Namedays in January This is the ‘Big one’. Saint Basil is the Greek Father Christmas, and traditionally in Greek culture gifts are exchanged on this day, rather than on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The custom of cutting the Vasilopita - New Year’s cake that has a coin hidden in it—commemorates St Basil’s charity.

Versions of the legend surrounding this custom vary. This is one of our favourites (though probably the least plausible!). At one point in his life, St Basil was living in a city that was under threat of attack. St Basil persuaded all the inhabitants to turn in their gold and jewellery to him for safe keeping. In the end, the city remained unscathed, however this left St Basil with the problem of how to return the valuables to the owners. He put the valuables into his cake mix and then distributed cakes to each of the townspeople, by a miracle everyone got back what was rightfully theirs.

January 6th: Epiphany

Known as ‘Theofania’ or ‘Fota’ in Greece, Epiphany is one of the most important days in the Orthodox calendar and is a public holiday in Greece. On the Eve of Epiphany the ‘first sanctification’ takes place, the local priest goes from house to house blessing each home with sprigs of basil. On Epiphany itself, there is the Ceremony of the ‘Blessing of the Waters’, which here in Rethymnon takes place in the Venetian Harbour. After the service the priest throws the cross into the water, and brave young men dive in to try and retrieve it (and it is cold!). Many names are celebrated on this day, including Fani, Fotis, Theopoula and Ourania.

January 7th: St John The Baptist

This is also an important day, as many people in Greece are called Yiannis. And another day off for lots of people! Put it this way, don’t expect to get anything official done in the first week of the month!

Some Other Saints’ Days

January 17th: Antonis, 21st: Agnes, 22nd: Tassos, 24th: Xeni, and 26th: Xenofontos. Sorry if we left yours out!

January Oddities

Rethymnon Coffee Morning Bugle - January Oddities Three memorable songs about January are U2 ‘New Year’s Day’, Pilot ‘January’ and Bing Crosby: ‘It’s June in January’ (memorable for the right and wrong reasons?). Dylan Thomas wrote a poem called January 1939, and in January 1848 Claude Monet was painting up a storm down on the French Riviera. And whilst we’re on the subject of painting…..One of the more daring art thefts in the UK occurred early in the hours of Rethymnon Coffee Morning Bugle - January Oddities January 1st 2000 when thieves broke into the Ashmolean Museum (they got in via the glass roof) and pinched Cezanne’s Auvers-sur-Oise, then valued at over ₤3 million (which was a lot of money in those days!). Our favourite January World Record has to be the one set by Ashrita Furman in 2008, ‘The Fastest time to duck tape (duct tape) a person to a wall for one minute’ (in New York of course).

The birthstone for January is garnet, and January’s flower is the carnation or snowdrop. It may also interest you to know that January is National Soup Month in the US. OK, OK, we’ll stop now! Anyway, here at the Bugle we hope that all our readers have a great January 2009!

Pashmina Delafonte

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