Show January Was for Janus God of New v Adventures T THE HE month of January bears its name because Janus was the god of the opening year He presided presided presided pre pre- sided over the undertaking of any new adventure and was a god known only to the Romans The Romans adopted January as the first of the year from the reign of their second king Numa who ruled until B. B C. C Not until the Eighteenth century was January universally adopted as the beginning of the year England took the step in 1752 and Sweden in 1753 but other European countries adopted this New Years Year's day at an earlier date France in 1564 Holland Holland Hol Hol- land Protestant Germany and Russia Russia Russia Rus Rus- sia in 1700 |