When does the year begin?
As a pagan who follows the ‘wheel of the year’, this question certainly gives food for thought. After all, a wheel is round and therefore doesn’t have a beginning or an end. You could therefore argue that this is a silly or rhetorical question. Does it need an answer? Is there an answer? Is there a wrong answer? To the last question, I certainly think not. Of course, for a lot of people, the new year starts on January the 1st as dictated by the Gregorian calendar which is apparently the ‘internationally accepted civil solar calendar used by most of the world today’. Yet of course, depending on what sector you work or study in, and indeed what country you reside in, your calendar may look very different. For example, here in the UK, academic calendars and diaries run from July or August with the presumption that academics can prepare for their ‘new academic year’ which starts around the beginning or middle of September. Schools in Scotland start their academic year in August and there is talk about the rest of the UK joining them as climate change and summer heatwaves become more persistent across England, Wales and Northern Ireland forcing school closures in July. So, as you can see, whether you are spiritual/religious or not, your ‘new year’ may be very different to someone else’s.
During the rise of Christianity, the fact that Christmas was so close to the start of the new year on the Gregorian calendar, would have meant that the festive period as a whole signalled the end of one year and the slow easing into another. Whether you celebrate Yuletide, the winter solstice, Christmas or a combination, the festive period certainly seems like an in-between period. Workplaces start to close or change their hours and there is a general feeling of things ‘winding down’ as winter starts to really set in. But does that really signal the start of the new year? Or should we lean into that feeling of stillness and calm which winter encourages us to do, and leave our new year celebrations until Imbolc when the very first signs of spring emerge? The Chinese New Year which is based on a lunisolar calendar often falls in February too. Snowdrops and crocus are the first flowers to emerge amongst the ice and snow here in Britain and the lengthening days start to signal us to plan ahead in our gardens and prepare for the coming growing season. More and more people are leaving starting their new year’s resolutions until February when they have shaken off the last of the festive hangover feeling.
In order for there to be a beginning, there usually has to be an end of some kind. For many pagans, the end of the growing season and the culmination of the harvest signals the end of their produce/agricultural ‘year’. However, it is not as simple as declaring the harvest to be the new year point, for the wheel of the year holds not one, but three harvest festivals (Well us pagans do enjoy our festivals and food!). The first of these is Lammas/Lughnasadh celebrating the grain harvest, the second and arguably the main harvest is the Autumn Equinox/Mabon, and finally there is Samhain which amongst other things celebrates the culmination of the harvest. Any one of these festivals could and is by some seen to be the end of one year and the start of another. The school summer holidays usually coincide with Lammas and the harvest season. Therefore, for many pagans who choose to meet up with family or attend festivals around this time, this can be their main yearly celebration. Mabon on the other hand, being the main and ultimate harvest festival, could easily be argued to be the end of the year. The culmination of months of growing and the time when almost all of the harvest is gathered. A real celebration of abundance.
This brings me on to Samhain. All the harvest is gathered. The days begin to become bitter, cold and dreary. The veil is at one of its thinnest points (The other being Beltane) and our ancestors gather amongst us once more. Surely this should signal the ultimate culmination of the year and the start of another? Yet with all of the western focus on being ‘festive ready’ and with the shops stocking seasonal items earlier and earlier, I always feel like there is still so much to do around Samhain. I love the festival, but I never feel rested and ready to ‘reset’ around it.
Ultimately, the start of the year can be whenever you want it to be. Every pagan festival could be argued to be the start/end of a year. Each festival holds its own significance, and each festival is just as important as the other. For this reason, it is fitting that pagans celebrate it as a ‘wheel’. It has no beginning and no end. Our lives are never linear and straight. We ride the wheel of fortune and each of us will go through periods or fortune and periods of strife. You do not have to wait for a specific date or time to make a change or start afresh. I guess if anything, this blog is simply a reminder to live your life now. Choose to be happy now. Yesterday has gone. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Choose to celebrate your life today and live it to its fullest. Why shouldn’t today be a new year/new you?
