How lucky that Topic Tuesday has fallen on Christmas and the New Year! So the obligatory holiday education post is at hand. Let's look at the Calendar for origins of this, our only Global/Universal, holiday.

On the Calendar(s): The primary calendar that we have wide familiarity with is the Gregorian Calendar, but the story doesn't start there. Let's go back to it's earliest incarnation.

Numa Pompilius  (753–673 BC; reigned 715–673 BC), second king of Rome, created the  Roman Calendar which was  superseded in 46 BC  by  Julius Caesar 's "Julian Calendar" . Caesar's version had the year beginning in January, unlike the Roman calendar that started in March. The Julian Calendar was utilized by  most of Europe from 45 BC until it was superseded by the  Gregorian calendar  commencing in 1582. The Julian Calendar is still in use in parts of the world today and is primarily used to track  observance dates  of  fixed feasts  and   moveable feasts.

The Gregorian Calendar  was  promulgated  by  Pope Gregory XIII , after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582; the decree, a  papal bull , is known by its  opening words ,  Inter gravissimas .   Reform was required because too many leap days are added with respect to the astronomical seasons on the Julian scheme. On average, the astronomical  solstices  and the  equinoxes  advance by about 11 minutes per year against the Julian year. As a result, the  calculated date  of  Easter  gradually moved out of alignment with the March  equinox . T he Julian calendar gained a day about every 134 years. By 1582, it was ten days out of alignment from where it supposedly had been in 325 during the  Council of Nicaea . 

The Gregorian calendar was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe, with other countries adopting it over the following centuries.  Since the Julian and Gregorian calendars were long used simultaneously, although in different places, calendar dates in the transition period are often ambiguous, unless it is specified which calendar was being used.  The notation  "Old Style" (OS)  is sometimes used to indicate a date in the Julian calendar, as opposed to  "New Style" (NS) , which either represents the Julian date with the start of the year as 1 January or a full mapping onto the  Gregorian calendar . This notation is used to clarify dates from countries which continued to use the Julian calendar after the Gregorian reform, such as Great Britain (switched in 1752),  Russia (1918), or Greece (1923).

Roman:  Fortuna  ( Latin :  Fortūna , equivalent to the  Greek  goddess  Tyche )

Roman: Agonalia

Feast of Juno and Janus, god of beginnings and thresholds. On this day, no evil may be spoken, so that the day and the year may be sweet. "Words have weight, and the ears of the Deities are open." (Ovid, Fasti). Friends exchange small jars of honey with dates or figs, along with good wishes and coins. These were called Strenae, after the Sabine Goddess of Health. This custom has continued in France to this day.

In medieval times, people wore animal masks on this day; this was called "guising."

Greek: Gamelia, Feast of the Goddess of Marriage, Hera (corresponding to the Roman Juno).

Anglo-Saxon: Wassail  ( Old English   wæs hæl , literally 'be you healthy') "Be Hale (whole)"  Additionally the  tradition of  wassailing  which falls into two distinct categories: The House-Visiting wassail and the Orchard-Visiting wassail. House-Visiting wassail,  caroling  by any other name, is the practice of people going door-to-door singing  Christmas carols . These have also migrated to Christmas.

Roman: Feast of Aesculapius (Greek Healing God), his mother Coronis, and his daughter Salus (Health), whose Greek counterpart is the goddess  Hygieia , though her functions differ considerably.

Sumerian: Inanna's ( Sumerian goddess  of sexual love, fertility, and warfare.) Nativity feast is begun by lighting a white candle at sunset. It is to burn through the night and is extinguished at dawn.

Modern Day, We drink, dance, sing songs, like Auld Lang Syne, to which we always get the words wrong.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind ?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and old lang syne ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !

and surely I’ll buy mine !

And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

We two have run about the slopes,

and picked the daisies fine ;

But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine† ;

But seas between us broad have roared

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !

And give us a hand o’ thine !

And we’ll take a right good-will draught,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.