“Between the years” is commonly referred to as the period between the Christmas holidays and New Year’s Eve.
During this time you can not only relax and enjoy your free time, but also start looking ahead to the next year with New Year’s resolutions.
The term “between the years” has its origins in a century-long dispute.
For a long time there was debate about the exact dates for the beginning of the year and the birth of Christ.
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“Between the years”: This is where the expression comes from
The date on which Christmas is celebrated has by no means been clear since the beginning of Christianity: First, instead of Christmas, according to ‘Welt’, the baptism of Jesus was celebrated on January 6th.
In the middle of the fourth century, December 25th was designated as Christ’s birthday for the first time – but at the same time this day was also supposed to ring in the new year.
But that didn’t suit some people either – and there was a constant back and forth: In the Middle Ages, the church changed the date of the New Year several times.
After all the hustle and bustle, it was finally decided in 1691: New Year’s Day is January 1st.
The term “between the years” avoids the problem
However, even when there was an official date, it was not implemented everywhere and there were still different dates for the start of the year.
Because for a long time it was not clear when Christmas Eve and when New Year the expression “between the years” arose.
This made it possible to specifically avoid the problematic definition.
