History of New Year
According to the Islamic calendar, New Year’s Day falls on Feb. 10. The
Jewish celebrate their new year, Rosh Hashana, around September or October
and the Chinese usher in the new year anywhere between Jan. 21 and Feb. 15,
depending on when the first day of the first moon of the lunar calendar
arrives. Even early cultures chose other dates such as the vernal equinox in
March, the fall equinox in September and the winter solstice in December.
So, how did the Western world end up with Jan. 1?
Early Romans designated March 1 as the new year. It wasn’t celebrated on
Jan. 1 until 153 B.C. It was the second king of Rome, Numa Pontilius, who
added January and February to the calendar around 700 B.C., The new year was
moved from March to January to coincide with the civil year and the election
of the two consuls, Rome’s highest officials, who served one-year terms. Not
everyone adopted the new date and many people still celebrated on March 1.
 The Roman lunar calendar was frequently out of sync with the seasons.
Julius Caesar remedied the problem in 46 B.C. by introducing a new,
solar-based calendar. After this, Jan. 1 was consistantly observed as the
beginning of the new year. It didn’t last, though. During the Middle Ages in
Europe, the Church deemed the New Year’s revelries pagan. The Council of Tours
abolished Jan. 1 as the beginning of the year in 567. Over the years, people
welcomed the new year at various times throughout Europe including Dec. 25,
March 1, March 25 (Feast of the Annunciation) and Easter.
The Gregorian calendar, in use today, restored Jan. 1 in 1582. Most Catholic
countries adopted the Gregorian calendar quickly while Protestant countries
accepted it more slowly. It was almost 200 years later when the British
adopted the reformed calendar in 1752. Before that time, both the British
Empire and its American colonies celebrated the new year in March.
Keep E-mail From
Driving You Crazy
 E-mail
can be overwhelming if you get a lot of it and you don’t manage it. Lots of
people just let things pile up in their in-boxes so that they have hundreds
of messages waiting. This can make you feel overwhelmed every time you check
your e-mail. To avoid the agitation and irritation this can cause try the
following quick tips to manage your e-mail:
• If you can answer an e-mail
immediately without research or checking with others, do so.
Try to deal with each e-mail only once when possible. Get it out of your
inbox and be done with it. You will feel better. If it will just take a
minute or two, deal with the e-mail right away. Don’t close it and tell
yourself you will handle it later.
• Make only three folders to file
your e-mail. This will avoid the problem of having so many
files you don’t know where you’ve put anything. Make one file for things
that need to be done but will take some time or research before you can
respond. Make another file for things that need no action but you think you
should keep. (Go through this file once a month and throw out things that
you know you no longer need.) The third file should be for things that you
can answer as soon as you have time.
• Open an e-mail account with
Yahoo! or another site that offers free accounts. Whenever
you subscribe to an e-newsletter or anything from which you might receive
marketing that doesn’t require action, use this e-mail account. It will make
your e-mail life much easier. When you have time, visit your free e-mail
account and review your mail so your in-box will not get so cluttered.
• Avoid sending social e-mails from
your main work account. This can’t always be avoided, but if
you have friends who send you everything they think is fascinating or
meaningful that they have found on the Web, you know how annoying it can be.
Don’t participate in the madness. Don’t send out these kinds of e-mails
yourself and don’t open e-mail that you can clearly see has been CC’d to
tons of people.
Use the
Computer to Control Clutter
Now that almost
everything you need is online, why do so many people still keep lots of
paper clutter around? Hanging on to bits of paper that keep falling out of
files can make you feel disorganized and overwhelmed. Start by making
computer files and typing up the information you really do want to keep.
Throw away anything that does not have sentimental value and that is not
useful to you. If what you are finding can easily be accessed on the Web,
don’t bother making your own computer file. When you need the information,
just Google it.
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