Looking Back… At Calendars

It appears that old calendars only had one or two days a month that were important enough to mention in those tiny calendar squares. Some of the more recent calendars out there have two or three per day. That’s a lot of celebrating over the course of a year.

As a student, we knew the New Year started in September, on the first Wednesday after Labor Day. Then came October, with Columbus Day being the next day off, unless it landed on a Saturday or Sunday. And so it went….

But, no!!!  How come January gets to be the first calendar month? There are lots of different answers to this question. The most interesting answer that I found is that it was named after Janus, the Roman god with two heads or faces, one looking behind and the other looking forward. My though was “Couldn’t that reasoning be used anywhere in the calendar cycle?”

How many of you out there kept a DIARY, when you were younger? A small calendar/notebook-like book, one page for each day, with a latch and key to lock up all your private thoughts. I had one…in 1967. If anyone who knew me then and were to read it today, they would certainly be able to identify me as the owner of this history-laden leatherette book. Yes, my love of baseball is quite evident there. I think I had all the final scores of each Boston Red Sox game played during the year of The Impossible Dream. If it was an extra good game, I also noted that…with a star or exclamation point…my own private ‘shorthand’ that no one else would be able to understand! Was I ever wrong on that thought!!!

Nowadays, diaries are still popular, however many people now call them journals or agendas.  Think about it…did you buy someone one of these for a Christmas present?  I did. There really is very little difference between my diary and these journals. The major difference in the ones I bought as gifs this year is that they are larger…guess we have more going on in our lives these days. AND it is no longer just a “teenage girl” gift. We even have spaces in our cell phones for note taking and leaving ourselves voice mails.

Then, you get to the day when you need to write down all your activities and those of your immediate family on the same calendar. Some families color-code their schedules so there are no missed appointments. You might remember your cat has a 9:30 AM nail appointment at the groomers, but will you remember that the furnace is to have its annual cleaning later that same day?  Will you be able to get home in time?  Oh no, your child’s school just called and your son has conjunctivas and you need to pick him up and take him to have it looked at, then go pick up his prescription. We all juggle things around at times. Other days go smoothly.

I have gotten to the point where I hang up a calendar with scenic pictures on it for my viewing pleasure.  My “activity” calendar is what they call a “large print” wall calendar that is the size of a regular calendar with a slight variation…the empty square spaces (boxes) for the first half of the month are on the upper portion of the calendar where a picture usually is placed, with the empty spaces (boxes) for the last two weeks of the month is on the bottom portion of the calendar, where all the spaces are usually located.

This set-up works for me! We all have our own comfort zone.

December is said to have twenty global holidays, whether religious or cultural in nature. It is one of the most festive and religious months of the entire year. Many of these ceremonies and celebrations involve traditions, food, friends, and family. Whatever days you celebrate throughout the calendar year, may you find joy, peace and love in knowing that you are a part of the whole community that makes us one.