The Romans set January as the first month of the year. Originally, March had been the start of the new year. But the early Roman kings, before the republic, moved it to coincide with Janus, a two-faced god who looked backward with an old face and forward with a young face.

Julius Caesar realigned Roman governance around January being the start of a new year of governance.

The reality, however, is it is arbitrary, and we have all given great psychological importance to it. The pagans of Rome engaged in debauchery and resolutions for the new year—something modernity has embraced.

The early Christians turned the first day of the year into a holy day to curb people’s pagan behaviors. Most of Western society has returned to revelry and resolutions instead of quiet reflection and worship on what is the eighth day of Christmas.

The prior year’s anxieties have not gone away. Early on New Year’s Day, a terrorist in New Orleans unleashed carnage. A few hours later, another in Las Vegas blew up a Tesla Cybertruck in........

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