January marks more than the beginning of the year in our modern calendar. With the power of the sun at its weakest, this is the wildest and coldest season of the cycle, when everything invites us to remain sheltered within our homes. Ghostly cavalcades cross the skies; processions of beasts, demons, animals and wild bearded figures roam the streets; and generous winter benefactors visit our houses. Like the two-faced god from whom the month takes its name, the cold days of January stand upon a threshold, looking both to the past and to what is yet to come, when nothing has been decided.