January - intermediate reading

This is the first month of the year and it has thirty-one days. January is named after Janus, the Roman god of doors, because January is the door into the new year. Janus was also the god of beginnings. He has two faces, one looking forward and the other looking back, so he can see both the past and the future.

January 1st is New Year’s Day, the first day of the new year, and it’s a national holiday. People usually relax at home or go out for a walk with friends or family, as long as the weather is nice enough. People often make New Year’s resolutions. This means that they decide to do something to improve themselves, such as lose weight, read more books, start a new hobby or give up smoking.

The third Monday in January is sometimes called Blue Monday, although this is a new idea invented by a travel company for publicity in 2005. It is said to be the most depressing day of the year! The weather is often bad, the excitement of Christmas has worn off and the credit card bill has arrived, we’ve put on weight over the holidays and we have broken our New Year’s resolutions. In reality, there is no science to support this!

January 25th is Burns Night, the birthday of Scotland’s most famous and popular poet, Robert Burns, who lived over 200 years ago. This is celebrated mostly in Scotland but is also recognised in England, especially by Scottish people who live here or who have Scottish relatives. People eat haggis, which is like a big sausage made from a sheep’s stomach, with “neeps and tatties” (swede and potato)! They also read the poetry of Robert Burns.
  
January is usually the coldest month of the year. The mornings are often frosty and we sometimes have snow. The days gradually get slightly longer but they are still very short and it gets dark not much later than 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Not much grows in the garden but you might see some snowdrops by the end of the month.

Snowdrops

Haggis, neeps and tatties