Why does the year start in January rather than March?

Question

It seems the western calendar originated with months starting in March: with that convention

September is the 7^th month and starts in "sept" for 7
October is the 8^th month and start in "octo" for 8
November is the 9^th month and start in "nove" for 9
December is the 10^th month and start in "dec" for 10
The extra day 29^th of February is now last of the year
The duration of months follows a more regular pattern. With Long (31) and Short months noted L and S: LSLSL LSLSL LS

What's the history/rationale of moving the start of year from March to January?

Some of this Wikipedia entry en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar#New_Year's_Day may be relevant. — mdewey, Commented Aug 14 at 12:49
Various sources suggest that when Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar he chose January as the first month in honour of Janus, the Roman god of beginnings. E.g., britannica.com/question/… — nwr, Commented Aug 14 at 13:07
@nwr I always wondered whether it was the other way round. "What shall we call the first month , O Julius" "Why not after the god of beginning?". — mdewey, Commented Aug 14 at 15:00
@nwr I believe you are misreading the source you quote: "The Roman republican calendar and the Julian calendar both recognized January 1 as the beginning of the New Year" means that Caesar did not change the starting day of the year, as it was already 1st January in the Roman republican calendar. If we go by what wikipedia says, the Romans themselves gave conflicting accounts of when they had changed the start of the consular year (which may or may not have been the same as the one in use for the rituals) from March to January. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_calendar — Gae. S., Commented Aug 15 at 0:36

fgrieu · Accepted Answer · 2024-08-16 14:59:50Z

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The ancient Roman civil year coincided with the administrations of the consuls. Each pair of consuls reigned for one year.

And apparently the Romans sometimes changed the date when new consuls took office.

From 223 to 153 BC the consuls took office on the Ides of March.

From 153 BC the consuls took office on the Kalends of January, or January 1. So from 153 BC the Roman civil year began on January 1.

fgrieu

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answered Aug 15 at 2:15

M.A. Golding

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$\begingroup$ Perhaps worth noting that in England the civil year used to start on Lady Day (March 25) until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_(New_Style)_Act_1750 which accounts for why our tax year still starts on April 6 (we "lost" eleven days in the change over). $\endgroup$
– mdewey
Commented Aug 15 at 13:49

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