Prompt Cast
The History of New Year's Day and the Roman Calendar
TLDR The Roman king Numa added two months to the calendar to fix leftover dates, and Julius Caesar later made changes to fix the calendar. Pope Gregory XIII standardized New Year's Day back to January 1st, and England switched to celebrating the New Year on January 1st in 1752.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
January 1st became the start of the new year on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
01:35
The Roman king Numa added two more months to the calendar to rectify the issue of leftover dates that didn't fit into any month.
02:58
At some point, the year began being counted on the Callans of Iannuarius, possibly due to the start of terms for consuls and the proximity of January 1st to the winter solstice, and Julius Caesar later implemented changes to fix the calendar.
04:27
In the Middle Ages, the system of celebrating the New Year fell apart and different days were celebrated all over Europe, but eventually Pope Gregory XIII standardized the New Year back to being January 1st.
05:50
England celebrated their New Year on March 25th, but in 1752 they adopted the Gregorian calendar and switched to celebrating the New Year on January 1st, which was also adopted by their American colonies.
07:13
The difference between a sidereal year and a tropical year is very small, with a sidereal year being only 20 minutes longer, and the orbit of the Earth around the Sun is close to circular but slightly elliptical.
08:31
January 1st marks an astronomical event, the perihelion, and was set as the start of the year by the Romans and later adopted by the Church.
