January is a time of thresholds, hauntings and omens. It was once simply lumped together with February under the single banner of ‘winter’, an unnamed stretch of cold between the end and the beginning. With the year ending in December and starting in March, the unnamed ‘winter’ season must have felt like a bleak, liminal no-man’s land.
No wonder it’s chock-full of ghost stories and superstitions.
When January finally became a month, its namesake was Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, doorways and transitions. A perfect match, right? Not only that, but Janus has two faces. He looks both to the past and the future. A bit like we do in these dark days.
And winter hauntings? As much as spirits weren’t to be feared at this time of year, people still took precautions. Rowan branches were hung over doorways to keep quiet hauntings from taking up residence. Pretty much a case of: ‘Please come in, share your wisdom… but don’t outstay your welcome.’
There’s a tenderness in these old practices though. A respect for the unseen. A recognition that the turning of a year is more than a calendar shift.
It is indeed a threshold.
And, in folklore, thresholds are where ghosts gather.
Have you had any quiet winter hauntings yet?
R. H. DIXON 