The story behind our WEEKdays

I was a little confused in the morning about what day it is today, when I tried finding out about it, I stumbled across this – ‘Thunder’s Day’ I wondered if it had to do with the upcoming monsoons, which is not same across the World. So, a little research and this is what I found. Sharing this #GuruGyan with all you koolkanyas out there. We are all aware that our days of the week are named after planets. Ideally, we should be having 7 and not 9? That is where the #Babylonians come in to picture. They were the ones who adopted that number because they observed 7 celestial bodies – the SUN, the MOON, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. I wonder why they never considered Uranus, Neptune, Pluto or Earth for that matter.  

 

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SUNDAY – The name takes its origin from a Latin phrase “dies Solis” meaning the Sun’s Day. Google Nani and Wiki Dadi say that God worked for 6 days and rested on the Seventh day which is allegedly the Sabbath day or Saturday as we better know as. It is also rumoured that it was the British Government which declared Sunday as an officially #offday in the year 1843. Some very learned and intellectual people also think that it was Rajiv Gandhi who introduced the concept of ‘SUNDAY HOLIDAY’ in the year 1989 because he played tennis that day. And see if you can beat this.

 

        -           It was Emperor Constantine who decreed that the seven-day week was the official Roman                      week and made Sunday a public holiday in A.D. 321.

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MONDAY – This is equivalent to the Latin name “dies Lunae” meaning the Moon’s Day. Remember the Parry’s Coffee Bite Ad of 90s “Coffee – Toffee, Coffee – Toffee….The argument continues.” Just like this one. Which is the first day of the week? “Sunday – Monday, Sunday – Monday…. And it goes on.” According to International standard ISO 1861, Monday is the first day of the week and Sunday is when the #weekends. Also, it stands true that Sunday has been set aside as the first day of the week as it is the “Day of the Sun” since ancient Egyptian times. Popularly known as the “Suicide Day,” “Heart Attack Day,” “No Sleep Day” in some parts of the world. But this is something that got me excited.

-       It is the only day of the week that is an anagram for a single word  “DYNAMO”

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TUESDAY – Though the Latin name is “dies Martis” meaning the Day of Mars, this day has its roots in the Germanic God of war know as Tiu. So “Tiwsday” eventually transformed into Tuesday. Tuesdays are considered lucky by the Japanese, Koreans and Americans, whereas the Spanish and Greek worlds consider it not so lucky. In fact the Japanese call it ‘Ka youbi’ meaning the “Day of Fire.” But did you know about this?

-       Music Albums and DVDs including Blue Ray were all released on Tuesdays, till they were also being released along side Movies on Fridays from 2015 onwards.

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WEDNESDAY – Vaguely related to the Latin name “dies Mercurii” meaning the Day of Mercury, which is considered as equally swift as Woden, the Germanic equivalent of Roman God Mercury, is where this day takes its origin from. We don’t need to switch on our think pads to guess that Woden’s Day graduated to the present Wednesday. It is called the “Hump Day” because it comes in the middle of the week after which it’s downhill towards weekend. And what I am going to tell you now, I am sure is going to be the highlight of this post.

-       Bosses across the world are most receptive on Wednesdays on requests from employees.

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THURSDAY – It’s a rare combination here. Jupiter, also known as Jove, the Roman supreme God who created thunder and lighting and the Latin God of thunder “Thor” combined together to give us “dies Jovis” meaning the Day of Jupiter which eventually grew up to Thunder’s Day, Thor’s Day and settled at Thursday. In most of the languages of India, the word for Thursday is Guruvār, meaning the day of the Guru being the style for Bṛhaspati, guru to the gods and regent of the planet Jupiter. In Sanskrit it is called Brhaspativar. Ever heard of #ThrowbackThursdays? Look at this now.

-       Throwback Thursdays were invented by a young man named Bobby Sanders who did this for his own amusement to post his old photos and events. And this became the next viral thing.

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FRIDAY - Venus is the Roman goddess of love and beauty, and in Latin her day was known as “dies Veneris.”  The English name for Venus’ day comes from Frigg, the Norse goddess of love and the heavens, and possibly Fria, the Teutonic goddess of love and beauty. We have all come across phrases like “Casual Friday,” “Friday Syndrome” or “Friday Fever” some time or the other. And we are all aware of the popular American acronym “TGIF – Thank God It’s Friday.” But this one really made me sit back.

 

-       In UK and Australia, Friday is sometimes referred to as P.O.E.T.S Day. No. The Poets out there need not be happy about it as it is a mere acronym for “Piss Off Early Tomorrow’s Saturday.”

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SATURDAY – This one’s way too easy for every one of us. Named after the Roman God Saturn, in Latin it is known as “dies Saturni” meaning day of Saturn. In Korean, Saturday translates to “Earth Day” making me a little happy. Go and read the first paragraph once again if you want to know why? And this got me rolling on the floor.

-       The Maori (New Zealand) name for this day of the week is Raharoi, which means “Washing Day.” It derives its origin from the fact that Maoris would set aside this entire day for washing clothes to be worn for the Church on Sunday.

I am sure, you would not believe everything that I said. Go on. Put on your Sherlock Hats and knock Google Nani and Wiki Dadi. But if you ask me you should rather spend time on something else. How about naming your own Week days. I have switched on my think pad. It’s your turn now. Go for it.