In 2025, January marked the start of both the Western New Year and the Lunar New Year. Here, KEHINDE FADIPE looks through the calendar and considers whether March might be a more appropriate start to any new year instead.
It’s January the 1st. The new year rushes in like a gust of wind through an open Door – apparently. After weeks of Christmas shopping, endless cooking, presents, and indulgent feasting – preceded by the winding down of projects and that ambiguous window of “is it too late in the year to send that email?” – we are expected to leap into the next 365 days with clarity and purpose. Not resolutions, of course – we’ve moved past that. But still, we are supposed to return to work with a renewed sense of direction. Yet, the timing feels entirely off.
When I lived in London, I often wondered why the new year started in the darkest, coldest month. The sky turned black by 4pm, the ground was cold and unyielding, and all God’s creatures were deep in hibernation. On a personal level, I was still processing the changes of the past year while simultaneously scrambling to address all the projects that had been shelved in December. January was always a slog, brightened briefly by New Year’s celebrations, and while the seasonal malaise eased slightly in February, it wasn’t until March that I felt a true sense of renewal.
The pattern has persisted ever since. A few years ago, I began choosing a “word of the year” – a guiding theme to help me focus my energy and goals. But, year after year, that word never crystallised until March. Without fail, every time, clarity arrived in March. Curious, I began to investigate why.
The Gregorian calendar, used since 1582, evolved from the Julian calendar, which was itself an update to the earlier Roman system. The Romans originally had a ten-month calendar that began in March, aligning with the natural renewal of spring. January and February were later added to adjust for the lunar cycle, but it was Julius Caesar who declared January the 1st as the start of the year.
His reasons? First, January was named after Janus, the god of beginnings, transitions, and doorways – a symbolic choice. More tellingly, the first day of January was the day high ranking Roman officials returned to work. It was a bureaucratic decision, not a natural one.
While the symbolism of January fits a calendar reset, it could have – perhaps should have – been reserved for the time of year when the earth itself renews. Across cultures, many traditions mark renewal not in January, but in closer harmony with natural cycles: Annunciation Day is celebrated by Catholics on the 25th of March, to commemorate the conception of Christ; many Pagan traditions celebrated the Spring equinox between March 20 and 23; Eastern European traditions such as the Morana ritual celebrate the end of winter by drowning or burning an effigy of the winter goddess; the New Yam festival is celebrated in early August in Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo; ancient Egyptians marked the new year with the Festival of Wepet-Renpet, which coincided with the Nile’s flooding and the rising of star Sirius in mid-July. Yet, nowhere in the ancient world do we find a Nature-driven tradition that declares January the 1st as a time of renewal.
So, if you find yourself struggling with motivation in January, wondering why your energy is low or why those December identified goals suddenly feel distant, consider this: perhaps we are not actually in the new year yet.
Perhaps this is a season of observation and preparation. Instead of forcing ourselves into immediate action, we might use this time to take stock, reflect and ease into the transition, allowing clarity to come at its own pace.
Because, as Emily Dickinson wrote in her poem “Dear March, Come in”, when we work with nature and honour our innate rhythms, the energy we seek will return – just as March arrives, calmly walking through the door and putting down its hat.
This article first appeared in the March 2025 edition of Expat Living. You can purchase the latest issue or subscribe, so you never miss a copy!
