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The Gwaun Valley celebrates the passing into the new year tonight | THE residents of the Gwaun Valley will be celebrating going into the New Year this evening, due to their adherence to the Julian calendar, as opposed to the Gregorian calendar, which the rest of the UK adopted back in the eighteenth century.
For the two-hundred or so inhabitants, Hen Galan signals the beginning of the New Year, on the 14th of January. As such, tonight is the night for celebration.
The Julian Calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, and took force the following year. It was a lot less complicated than the previous Roman calendar, which had years which were 355 days long; although once in a while, 22 or 23 days were added to the year in-between February and March in order to catch up. This was widely agreed to be rubbish, and so Julius Caesar consulted with the astronomer Sosigenes to make up for its shortcomings.
The Julian Calendar wasn’t exactly bang-on either. On average, the astronomical solstices and the equinoxes advance by about 11 minutes per year against the Julian year, causing the calendar to gain a day about every 134 years. Nobody seemed particularly bothered by this to begin with. After all, what is the point in an exact science ? However, one-and-a-half thousand or so years later, it was time to concede that things had gotten a bit out of hand.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the new Gregorian Calendar; which – by remarkable coincidence – was also his name. Catholic countries adopted the new calendar pretty quick-smart, but other nations took a bit more time. In Great Britain, it wasn’t introduced until 1752, when Thursday the 14th of September followed Wednesday the 2nd of September, in order to get back into step. This resulted in rioting from people who believed that their lives had been shortened.
The Gwaun Valley was also not quick to adopt the new calendar. In that - to date - it has not yet done so. As it is a fairly secluded valley, it took some time for the news to reach them. And when it did, evidently the residents were too laid-back to break with the tradition. What's the rush, after all ? The Gwaun Valley is not the only place not to have adopted the Gregorian Calendar. Eastern Orthodox churches have also kept the Julian Calendar, although it was itself revised in 1923.
The Bridgend Inn in Llanychaer will be celebrating Hen Galan this evening with live music and a buffet. So why not pop along and celebrate the new year again ? It'll be the perfect opportunity to restart on the new year's resolutions that you've failed to keep thus far.
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