Once upon a time, pre-713 BC to be almost but not quite exact, there were 10 months and 304 days in a year, starting with March. And, we’re talking Roman calendars, by the way, lest you were thinking Julian calendars or Gregorian calendars or something along those lines. No one is entirely sure how we picked up January and February. I mean, yes, there’s a legend about a king named Numa Pompilius who added the extra months, but given that he’s basically a mythical person, who may or may not (based on whether he was even real or not) have been the successor of Romulus, that’s pretty much a huge question mark. Or, maybe you fall into the opposing camp of historians who credit the additional days to Decemvirs, a 10 man commission of Roman law writers, around 450 BC. Regardless, it does seem to have originated in the Northern Hemisphere, since January was first called a variety of things by a variety of people. The Saxons said Wulfmomath, or Wolf Month, since the January full moon is known as the Wolf Moon. The court of Charlemagne used the term Wintarmanoth – meaning cold month. The Finnish say tammikuu, or heart of winter. Since January (the actual word derives from Roman mythology’s Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions) is the coldest month of the year, if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s safe to say all the names originated there. But, as necessity breeds invention, so was January born mainly from a war, the Lusitanian War of 153 BC, perhaps. See, Chief Punicus, of the Lusitanians, defeated some Roman governors and killed all their troops. The Romans demanded an investigation, as Romans do, and immediately sent the 153 BC version of the Red Cross to Hispania to deliver aid. Then, they decided to make some better rules, again, as Romans do. They needed them to go into effect immediately. But, it was 2.5 months before the day new rules went into place (cause, March). So, the Romans flipped the script on the calendar and added January and February. Presto, abracadabra, a la peanut butter sandwiches, and there were new months and new laws and a big Roman mulligan for Hispania.