Fun Facts About January

January Facts About the Calendar

January’s place at the front of the year took the Romans centuries to settle.

1. It is named after a two-faced god January (Latin Ianuarius) is named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, transitions, gates and doorways. He is usually shown with a two-faced head. ↳ Janus
2. The first Roman calendar had no January The original Roman calendar had 10 months and 304 days, and winter was treated as a month-less gap. King Numa Pompilius is supposed to have added January and February around 713 BC so the calendar covered a 354-day lunar year. ↳ January
3. A war moved New Year to January 1 Roman consuls used to take office on March 15. From 153 BC they started on January 1; the historian Theodor Mommsen linked the change to a rebellion in Hispania that needed a consul sent out early. ↳ January
4. Julius Caesar’s calendar started on a January 1 The Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, took effect on 1 January 45 BC by edict, and it stayed the main calendar of most of the Western world for more than 1,600 years. ↳ New Year’s Day
5. The Saxons called it “wolf month” Old names for January include the Saxon Wulf-monath, “wolf month”, and Charlemagne’s Wintarmanoth, “winter” or “cold month”. ↳ January
6. Coldest up north, warmest down south On average January is the coldest month of the year in most of the Northern Hemisphere and the warmest in most of the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the second month of summer. ↳ January
7. Its birthstone is the garnet January’s birthstone is the garnet, which stands for constancy. Its birth flowers are the carnation (cottage pink) and the snowdrop, and its zodiac signs are Capricorn, until January 19, and Aquarius, from January 20. ↳ January
8. In the US it is National Soup Month Among January’s food months in the United States are National Soup Month, Hot Tea Month and Oatmeal Month. ↳ January

January Facts About the Sky

The coldest month in the north is also the month the Sun is nearest.

9. Earth is closest to the Sun in January In the 21st century Earth reaches perihelion, its closest point to the Sun, in early January, about 14 days after the December solstice. It is then about 147.1 million km (91.4 million miles) from the Sun. Seasons come from Earth’s tilt, not its distance. ↳ Apsis
10. The year’s first meteor shower is gone in hours The Quadrantids peak in early January and can be as rich as the Perseids or Geminids, but their peak is so narrow that rates stay above half the maximum for only about eight hours, compared with two days for the Perseids. ↳ Quadrantids
11. The Quadrantids are named after a lost constellation Their name comes from Quadrans Muralis, a constellation created in 1795 by the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande. It was left off the list of 88 modern constellations the International Astronomical Union drew up in 1922, but the shower kept the name. ↳ Quadrantids

January Facts From History

From a river in Italy to a phone in San Francisco, a lot of history happened in January.

12. Caesar crossed the Rubicon in January Julius Caesar led his army across the Rubicon in January 49 BC, scholars usually say on the night of 10–11 January. “Crossing the Rubicon” has meant passing the point of no return ever since, and “the die is cast” is what Caesar allegedly said just before the crossing. ↳ Crossing the Rubicon
13. The Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1 Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. It changed the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved people in the Confederate states, but it did not cover the border states that stayed in the Union. ↳ Emancipation Proclamation
14. Ellis Island opened on New Year’s Day The Ellis Island immigration station opened on January 1, 1892. Its first immigrant was Annie Moore, a 17-year-old from Cork, Ireland, and almost 700 people passed through on the first day. ↳ Ellis Island
15. The California gold rush began in January James W. Marshall found gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California, on January 24, 1848. The news drew about 300,000 people to California. ↳ California gold rush
16. The US went dry in January The Eighteenth Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919, and by its own terms the country went dry one year later, on January 17, 1920. Prohibition lasted until December 5, 1933. ↳ Prohibition in the United States
17. Presidents used to start in March The Twentieth Amendment, adopted on January 23, 1933, moved the start of US presidential terms from March 4 to January 20, which is why Inauguration Day is in January. ↳ Twentieth Amendment
18. The first Super Bowl was not called the Super Bowl Super Bowl I was played on January 15, 1967, in Los Angeles; the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10. Officially it was the first AFL–NFL World Championship Game. ↳ Super Bowl I
19. The Mac was launched in January Apple’s Macintosh was introduced by the Ridley Scott “1984” commercial during the Super Bowl on January 22, 1984, and went on sale two days later, on January 24, at US$2,495. ↳ Macintosh 128K
20. Wikipedia was born on January 15 Wikipedia launched on January 15, 2001, as a single English-language edition. The date is sometimes called Wikipedia Day. ↳ Wikipedia
21. The iPhone was announced in January Apple announced the first iPhone on January 9, 2007, at Macworld; development had started in secret in 2005. It did not go on sale in the US until June 29, 2007. ↳ iPhone (1st generation)

Fun Facts About January Holidays and Traditions

January has a witch on a broom, a burning Viking ship and a day said to be the gloomiest of the year.

22. Christmas officially ends on Twelfth Night Twelfth Night ends the twelve days of Christmas. Depending on how you count, it falls on January 5, the eve of Epiphany, or on January 6, Epiphany evening itself; the Church of England keeps it on the 5th. ↳ Twelfth Night (holiday)
23. In Italy a witch brings the presents In Italian folklore the Befana, a witch-like old woman, delivers gifts to children on the night of January 5, Epiphany Eve. Her name is a corruption of Epifania, Italian for Epiphany. ↳ Epiphany (holiday)
24. Some people celebrate New Year twice The Old New Year, the start of the year in the Julian calendar, falls on January 14 in the Gregorian calendar in the 20th and 21st centuries, and is still marked informally in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe. ↳ Old New Year
25. MLK Day falls between January 15 and 21 Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a US federal holiday on the third Monday of January, so it is never earlier than January 15, King’s birthday, or later than January 21. Signed into law in 1983, it was first observed on January 20, 1986. ↳ Martin Luther King Jr. Day
26. “Blue Monday” started with a travel company Blue Monday, usually the third Monday of January, is said to be the most depressing day of the year. The claim was put forward by the UK travel agency Sky Travel and named by Cliff Arnall in 2005, and some have dismissed it as pseudoscience. ↳ Blue Monday (date)
27. Dry January is a registered trademark The UK charity Alcohol Change UK formalized the Dry January challenge in 2013, and the name has been its registered trademark since 2014. The first reported Dry January was in 2008, by Frank Posillico in New York. ↳ Dry January
28. Veganuary began with 3,325 people Veganuary, a challenge to eat vegan for the month, began in January 2014 with 3,325 sign-ups. 400,000 people signed up for the 2020 campaign. ↳ Veganuary
29. The first Burns supper was held on the wrong day Burns Night celebrates the poet Robert Burns on his birthday, January 25. The earliest surviving Burns Club, in Greenock, held its first supper on what it thought was his birthday, January 29, 1802, and only found the right date in parish records in 1803. ↳ Burns supper
30. Shetland burns a Viking ship in January At Up Helly Aa in Lerwick, Shetland, up to a thousand costumed “guizers” march with torches on the last Tuesday in January, then burn an imitation Viking galley to mark the end of the Yule season. ↳ Up Helly Aa
31. January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day The date marks the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Red Army on January 27, 1945. The United Nations General Assembly designated the day in 2005. ↳ International Holocaust Remembrance Day

January Facts vs. Our Other Month and Winter Pages

This page covers the whole month. For New Year’s Eve and the first-foot of Hogmanay, read our New Years traditions; for the month before, our fun facts about December. The Twelfth Night and wassailing side of the season is in our Yule traditions, and the long nights that lead into January are in our winter solstice traditions.

How to Use These January Facts

Read one January fact a day as a calendar of the month, turn the list into a New Year quiz, or use a few as icebreakers when school or work starts again. Each takes 15 to 30 seconds to read aloud. Want something darker for the long January nights? Try our weird history facts, creepy space facts or famous ghost stories.

How We Checked These January Facts

Every fact links to the Wikipedia article we checked it against on October 23, 2026. Where the sources hedge, so do we: King Numa “is supposed to have” added January, the Rubicon date is the one scholars “usually” give, and Blue Monday is a marketing claim, not a scientific finding. Dates that depend on the weekday, such as MLK Day, Blue Monday and Up Helly Aa, move from year to year. If you spot an error, tell us through the contact page.

Fun Facts About January — FAQ