January: The first month, named after the Roman god of gates Janus, symbolizes the end of one year and the start of another. Janus is commonly pictured as a two-faced god, looking simultaneously towards the past and the future. Being a singular entity, Janus blurs the difference between endings and beginnings. The end is never the end. It's always the beginning of something new.

February: February was named Februarius after the Latin term februum, which means a ritual purification.
Purification was a big deal in Roman times, as Ovid quotes, “Our ancestors believed every sin and cause of evil/Could be erased by rites of purification.” At the end of the month Romans celebrated the god of boundaries, Terminus, who separates between the living and dead, pure and impure. “February that follows was once last in the ancient year/And your worship, Terminus, closed the sacred rites.”

March: March was the earliest month of the year when the weather was mild enough to resume armed conflicts and therefore was named after Mars, the god of war. Signifying the end of winter, in which snow and ice melt, March once was the first month in the Roman calendar and a period of nature’s revival. The year consisted of 10 months so the calendar year only lasted 304 days with 61 days unaccounted for in the winter. The calendar didn’t work for long being unsynchronized with the seasons leading to reform around 700 BCE adding the months of January and February for mitigating the gap.

Lamp by Martinelli luce.
In collaboration with Idan Sidi.