When Does the New Year Truly Begin?

An Essay On Time, Light, Seasons, and the Quiet Art of Beginning Again

There is a lot of chat online at the moment about when the New Year really begins. I really like to see the posts and reels on it, to hear debate around it, and I also like that it has been building now over the past few years. Curiosity and questioning of old paradigms. Wonderful! 

Today, January 1st, marks the start of 2026 for the mainstream Gregorian calendar. Much of the world tells us it’s time to begin again - to reset, detox and plan. And yet, the Earth is still quiet and resting, with days that are dark and short. The body feels slower, more inward, more contemplative, which can create a certain resistance within us. 

The Gregorian calendar we follow today places the New Year in January. Yet the months themselves quietly tell another story. September meaning seven. October eight. November nine. December ten. A linguistic echo of a time when March marked the true beginning of the year.

And in nature, that makes sense. March does bring light. Movement. Life returning to the earth. Seeds can be planted. Energy rises. We clean, organise, expand, create. Spring certainly feels like a visible beginning. That is undeniable. And Winter, by contrast, was never meant to be rushed through.

The way I see it is that there is always more to our habits and traditions than we initially see, and learn, and it's a good idea to review them. Once you start looking into these things you tend to be able to keep digging into them, layer by layer and revealing more truths. We can orient ourselves by the sun and/ or the moon, and by the Zodiac too. The sun governs the year, marking seasons, solstices, and the great rhythms of growth and rest, while the moon governs the month, the body, and inner cycles. Many ancient calendars honoured both, recognising that the sun organises our outer, collective life, while the moon speaks more quietly to our inner rhythm. The zodiac, too, can be understood as a seasonal language that gives us insights into our lives and a way to orient ourselves. In that sense, the heavenly bodies function as a living clock, guiding humanity through the year each and every year. 

Across all cultures and spiritual traditions, what stands out the most is that winter is a season of rest, repair, and reflection. The earth withdraws, not because it is inactive, but because it is preparing, resting and reflecting. 

The winter solstice marks the peak of darkness, as well as the return of the light. Christmas tells the story of birth in darkness - a light of hope entering the world gently, without spectacle. At the centre of this story stands Christ who is the Son, whose symbolism mirrors the Sun: the life-giving centre around which all life turns. 

Around Christ in his life stand the twelve apostles, which echo a pattern that appears wherever humans have tried to understand time, order, and meaning. Twelve months. Twelve hours of day and night. Twelve tribes. Twelve signs of the zodiac. Twelve is the number of wholeness - a complete cycle before renewal begins again. So there is something to the Gregorian Calendar after all and the twelve months. I personally don't feel we need to throw out the whole Sun calendar, even if a lunar calendar of 13 months, each with 28 days, creates perfect 4 week months and the same weekdays every month. There is still something to both, and definitely elements to the twelve months that is worth keeping.

The twelve days of Christmas, leading to Epiphany, were never meant to be a productivity sprint. Instead it can be seen as a sacred pause, a space, for rest, reflection, and recognition. Seen through this lens, January and New Year at this time can make sense. 

Personally, I love this time of year. It feels like freedom and renewal after the busyness and the richness of Christmas. As a busy Mother of 3 who always seems to find December hectic, my body cries out for simple, nourishing food, contemplative walks, cleansing baths and new chapter rituals. Not harsh detoxes, not early morning gym sessions. Just simply letting go of what does not serve, while appreciating what does. Opening a new planner. Starting a new meal plan. Giving myself some space. The body does not need punishment. It needs simplicity. And here, nature and divine design quietly agree.

Across traditional cultures, winter eating follows the same principles: warming, grounding foods; cooked meals; roots and hardy greens; simple flavours; gentle cleansing without depletion.

Root vegetables grow underground, in darkness and cold, mirroring the inward work winter asks of us. Cooked food conserves energy when digestion is naturally slower. Soups, stews, broths, and greens nourish without overstimulation. This kind of eating steadies blood sugar, calms the nervous system, supports digestion, rebuilds reserves, and prepares the body for spring and another season of renewal.

January nourishment is about repair and reserve, not radical transformation but kindness to the self... which of course can be transformative.

January invites different habits, too. The hectic energy of Christmas has past. We can indulge in earlier nights. More sleep. Gentle movement. Warm baths. Soft decluttering. Candlelight. Slow reading. Prayer. Journaling with or without goals and intentions. 

I don't feel it's the month for extreme fasting, sweaty workouts, maximum productivity, or radical overhauls. Those do belong to spring, when light and energy naturally rise.

January is the month for reflecting. Letting go. Leaving darkness in the past and looking forward to the light. Being intentional about caring for oneself. 

While March may look like the true beginning of the calendar…
While Aries may mark the true beginning of the zodiac…
While spring clearly carries the energy of initiation…

Any moment can be a beginning. New beginnings are always welcome. New chapters are wonderful. This sacred, quiet pause in the twelve days of Christmas, with the Full Moon in Cancer occurring on January 3, is a good time to sort through what is helpful in our lives and what may be holding us back. It's a time to shed old stories and beliefs and connect with things that lift us up. 

Think of all that is happening right now, we've had a solstice, we're in the twelve days of Christmas, it's Gregorian New Year, a full moon awaits. Most of us are at home, enjoying some much needed space, and might actually have more time than usual to think and reflect. 

January 1st and a New Year is not what creates any kind of change, or celebration. You do.

Any day is a good day to let go of what no longer serves you.
Any moment is a good moment to begin a habit that nourishes you.
Any season can hold a new chapter for you. 

Any time can be good for a celebration with family and friends. Especially when we are already off school and taking a break from work.

So you don’t need to force January.
You don’t need to wait for March.
You don’t need permission from a calendar, or anyone on social media to start afresh, celebrate a ritual or choose to be quiet and still. 

Go with what you feel.
You honour this beautiful, inspirational season, and your own divine intuition.
You begin new projects and intentions when it feels alive, honest, and right for you. Whether that's now, at the start of Chinese New Year, or in March/ April.

Maybe it's not about being 'right' after all. It's more about self-progress, reflection and intuition. Whatever everyone else is thinking. 

- Dawn Mayne