Does starting the New Year in the middle of winter feel natural to you? Once the holiday celebrations are over, the spending is done, and the cold dark days set in, people usually start to feel the winter blues in the Northern hemisphere.

Attune to Nature

What if you could start your year in a season which is more beneficial to your well being? As March creeps in, and the daylight becomes longer, you feel the difference. Imagine if you started the calendar year in spring, it would align with a season in nature that is a time of new beginnings.

Why We Use the Current Calendar

It’s a long story, but I will give you the condensed version. All roads lead to Rome. Yes, the Romans needed to standardize their months, because it was all over the place, and if you know anything about that Empire, they loved their festivals and their taxes.

Julius Caesar implemented a solar calendar with 12 months in 45 B.C. This calendar placed the beginning of the year on January 1st from March 1st. Once the Roman Empire fell, the calendar became dominated by Christianized former pagan holidays and festivals, and the beginning of the year gradually moved back to March. It was to end the randomness of the former Roman calendar that the switch was made to the Gregorian calendar in 1582.

A problem was discovered with the calculations within the Gregorian calendar in 1582, which caused the seasons to be increasingly out of sync with each passing year. Another issue was that some countries used it, and some didn’t depending on their fondness for the Roman Catholic Church.

After the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, many countries gradually adopted it, and over time, it became the standard for most of the world, especially for international trade, diplomacy, and science.

The main standardization of the Gregorian change occurred in 1752, for England and the colonies. This highlights the fact that the calendar was a tool for control and globalization and nothing to do with agrarian cycles or harmony with human energy with the natural seasons.

Why should winter be the beginning when it is naturally a time of hibernation and rest?

Seasonal calendar

Which calendar is best for your rhythm with nature? Around the world, cultures more in tune with nature and its natural cycles mark the passage of the seasons with calendars indicating appropriate festivals for their communities, despite the Gregorian calendar being the most widely used.

The True New Year in the Northern hemisphere

The spring equinox is the true beginning, the time the buds burst forth, the time in nature of new birth, the awakening from hibernation.

If we look at older nature based calendars, such as the Celtic calendar, we see a calendar based on the equinoxes and solstice of the natural seasons.

They say there is nothing new under the sun. The land holds its natural cycles and maintains us even though we may have forgotten our connection to nature. We have thrown off our natural cycle and added unnecessary stress to our lives. Many indigenous nations have practised aligning with the moon cycle for millennia

The lunar calendar has 364 days. The solar calendar has 365 days.

We are human animals entwined with earth, sea, and sky. A Lunar calendar is based on the phases of the moon. This is a true global calendar.

Let’s take a look at a calendar which is guided by the moon. The Anishinabek Nation is reclaiming its heritage and this calendar is one that is being passed down to the future generations.

The Anishnaabe calendar is a 13 month lunar calendar. From full moon to full moon, which is when the earth is between the sun and the moon. The lunar month is 28 days, which also aligns with the female menstrual cycle. We are nature.

Look at the simple and accurate descriptions of what occurs in each cycle. For example ‘falling leaves moon’ just describes what happens during that time, and the thirteenth month in the year is called the ‘Blue moon’.

You can find a great resource for teaching school children about this calendar: Here

The Anishinaabe Calendar

Calendars from the Southern Hemisphere

The oldest Stone Calendar in the world is a solar calendar,  Blaauboschkraal stone ruins, is as old as it is mysterious. It is anti clockwise, starts in September, which is Spring in the southern hemisphere, and rain falls in the winter. Sun is the male energy and the moon female energy. This calendar acknowledges the balance of these energies during the equinox.

Check out a Bantu Calendar

Become Bi Calendar

Choose a calendar that works with your natural energy that is best for you. Their are many calendars which present an interesting world view which may appeal to you, especially if it has some cultural or spiritual significance.

Be open to the shift which occurs in your natural energy as you come into alignment with the phases of your chosen calendar. The shift to find balance is gathering momentum as more and more people are seeking balance through nature.

Final thoughts…

It is not practical, in a technological based society, to completely abandon the standard calendar, but there is room for an external and internal calendar.

To thrive we must recognize our interconnections with the laws of nature.