How Many Days in January

Introduction

January is the very first month of a year, following December as the previous month and February, as a preceding month, comprises a total of 31 days. These 31 days are parted into 4 weeks and 3 days. It is the first month of the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the first of the seven months of the year to have 31 days. The first day of this month, “January 1st”, is celebrated as New Year’s Day. However, many other cultures celebrate their new year on other dates. January is the coldest month of the year in the Northern hemisphere.

History of January

January is named after the Roman god of beginning and transition, Janus, as it is appropriate for the year's first month. However, the original Roman calendar consisted of only 10 months and started with March as the first month. Around 713 BC successor of Romulus, King Pompilius, added the months of January and February to the calendar. So now, the calendar covers a lunar year of 354 days, which previously included only 304 days. There are also other beliefs related to the origin of January. Historian Theodore Mommsen states that January became the very first month in the year 600 AUC of the Roman Calendar (153 BC) due to disasters of Lusitanian invasions when a Lusitanian chief named Punicus invaded Rome and defeated two Roman Governors followed by killing their troops.

Observances in January

• 1 January - Global Family Day

• 4 January - World Braille Day

• 6 January - World Day of War orphans

• 8 January - African National Congress Foundation Day

• 10 January - World Hindi Day

• 12 January - National Youth Day

• 15 January - Indian Army Day

• 24 January - National Girl Child Day

• 24 January - International day of Education

• 26 January - Republic Day of India

• 30 January - Martyrs Day

• 30 January - World leprosy day

Historical Events in January

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved people in the Confederacy. In 1960, explorers Jaques Piccard and Don Walsh travelled to the deepest point on earth called The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. In 1848 the discovery of gold in the American river by James Marshall initiated the Gold Rush in California. In 2006, the UN assigned January 27 as World Holocaust Day to honour the victims and survivors of genocide carried out by Nazis during the 1930s and 1940s. Shri. Lal Bahadur Shastri died on January 11, 1996, as the second Prime Minister of India. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was born on January 23, 1897, in Cuttack, Orissa. Lala Lajpat Rai was born on 28 January 1856 in Punjab. On 26 January 1950, the constitution of India came into effect, and this day is celebrated as Republic Day.

Facts about January

On January 4, 2022, Earth reached its Perihelion, which is when Earth is closest to our sun in orbit. The Saxons called January Wulf-monath or wolf month and the full moon of January as Wolf Moon because hungry wolves came into their towns searching for food at this time of the year. On average, January is the coldest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, January is a summer month and is as hot as July in the northern hemisphere. The Quadrantid Meteor shower appeared this year in the January sky.