Year-end reflections 2

The Roman god Janus and beginnings

Statue bust of Janus in the Vatican Museum

At year-end, I would like to introduce you to the Roman god Janus. You mention him all the time, though you may not know it: our month of January is named after him. Janus had an interesting and important portfolio: he was in charge of all beginnings and presided over times of change and transition. Thus, he is an appropriate deity to consider at this time of year!

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus was the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having a double-sided head. The month of January is named for Janus (Ianuarius).

Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace. The gates of the Temple of Janus in Rome were opened in time of war and closed to mark the arrival of peace. As a god of transitions, he had functions pertaining to birth and to journeys and exchange, and in his association with Portunus, a similar harbor and gateway god, he was concerned with travelling, trading, and shipping. Wikipedia

The image of Janus is striking, as he is depicted having two heads or two faces. There are many ways to interpret the meaning of this image. He looks back to the past and forward to the future. At doorways, he looks into the home and out into the world. At harbors, he looks into safe haven and out into perilous voyage.

Different depictions of Janus from Bernard de Montfaucon’s L’antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures.

So many features of new year celebrations can be seen in the Roman festivals to Janus.

The winter solstice was thought to occur on 25 December. 1 January was New Year’s Day: the day was consecrated to Janus since it was the first of the new year and of the month (kalends) of Janus: the feria [festival] had an augural [fortune-telling, predictive] character as Romans believed the beginning of anything was an omen for the whole. Thus, on that day it was customary to exchange cheerful words of good wishes. For the same reason everybody devoted a short time to his usual business, exchanged dates, figs and honey as a token of well wishing, and gave gifts of coins. Wikipedia

The positive character of Janus can been seen in the epithets (titles of honour) given to him in invocations: Opener, Gatekeeper, Good Creator, King, Father.

Ottorino Respighi wrote a four movement tone poem to pine groves in Rome. One of these movements is to the Pines of the Janiculum (I pini del Gianicolo) — a gateway out of Rome. Here’s a link to the lovely music. Pines of the Janiculum

I invite you to consider the past year. Be gentle with yourself and if you like, invoke the gentle and creative aura of Janus. Find things to appreciate and celebrate as much as you can. And as we look forward to the new year, find things to hope for. Hope is a beautiful thing. It gives life.