NEW YEAR – in the dead of winter?

And Possible origin of “April Fools.”

Many go around this time of year proclaiming “Happy new year” to everyone they see whom they know. So in the dead of winter, we find people proclaiming the new year. You might be interested to learn that it wasn’t always that way.

First of all, our Creator specified when the “new year” would be – and it was to be in the spring – with new leaves bursting on to branches and bushes. Flowers like crocuses, daffodils and hyacinths popping up were always a welcome sight and delighted us.

The first of Abib, the first month of the Hebrew calendar, in the springtime of the year, was the first of the year. Not Rosh Hashanah in the 7^th month of Hebrew months. New year may have originally been in the Fall of the year when God created Adam and Eve, but God changed it to the spring in the time of Moses -- typically late March or even as late as early April, in our Roman-named months.

Exodus 12:1-2   “Now YHVH (the LORD) spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 "This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.”

That first month was called ABIB (Exodus 13:4), when they came out of Egypt and kept Passover. During the Babylonian captivity, Jews accepted the name given while in Babylon – which was Nisan. See Esther 3:7.

My point is this: God’s “new year” is Abib 1 (or Nisan 1). I prefer the name Abib. Usually it falls at the end of March. Some years, like 2022, it can be later, in early April. So April 1 was the approximate date people used to keep in their heads as being around the time of the new year.

I looked up “April Fools” on a Google search and the History Channel came back with this. Here’s their link, but this quoted section below is the essential part.

https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/april-fools-day  

“Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1. 

 “People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.”  (emphasis mine) 

So a lot of early believers – who kept God’s holy days, were aware of the true new year being at the time of new spring growth. Since they kept it around April 1, they were often ridiculed and called “April Fools”.

So which makes more sense? Having new year begin in the spring exactly when our Maker says it begins – or the dead of winter, to confirm to a Pope Gregory XIII’s “Gregorian calendar” orchestrated through the Catholic church?

The Gregorian calendar did correct some calendar issues, such as instituting a leap year when necessary to keep the calendar on track. It also shortened the number of days in a year from 365.25 days (Julian) down a tad to 365.2425 days in the Gregorian calendar. It also changed the new year from the spring to January 1.

I personally don’t “keep”, participate in, or celebrate New Year’s day because it isn’t God’s new year’s. We don’t go banging pots and pans or lighting fireworks or go dancing and celebrating as others do. We just stay home. It’s just another night. We don’t watch the new year’s celebrations on TV either. Why should we? It’s not God’s new year, so that’s reason enough.

So if anyone wishes to call me “April Fools” – I’ll accept it with a smile. God our Father knows best.