Happy New Year! Believe it or not, this day, March 15, was New Year's Day in the Roman calendar. Julius Caesar revised the calendar to make the first month "January," two years before his assassination by his traitorous friend Brutus and the Roman Senate. Ides is actually a marker indicating a reference date relating to lunar phases. Ides is a reference to the first new moon of a particular month, usually falling between the 13th and the 15th. The "Ides of March" was a time for rejoicing and festivity. When the soothsayer in Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar" proclaimed, "Beware the Ides of March" to the Emperor, it could have been a warning about how Caesar took matters into his own hands and changed the calendar, in addition to telling Caesar to watch out and be careful, as something bad was going to happen to him. Many movies and TV series have used this phrase about the "Ides of March" signifying terrible events about to happen. Actually, Julius Caesar could have turned the tables on himself!