What day is it today?
You have a choice of seven days of the week
to name, but who named the days of the week?
The most common form of time keeping is the
Gregorian calendar.
First introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory the
13th, the calendar has been widely adopted
around the world to benefit global trade.
Yet this calendar is only one of as many as
forty calendars used today.
In other parts of the world you may come across
the Buddhist Calendar, or the Coptic Calendar,
the Hindu, the Hebrew or Islamic calendars
all of which pertain to particular religious
events and may involve different methods of time keeping
For the most part calendars cannot be separated
from their religious origin.
The Gregorian calendar is no different.
Originally based on the Julian calendar, which
was in turn based on the Roman calendar, which
again in turn was supposedly based on one
of the Classical Greek Hellenic calendars,
of which
there were many, the Gregorian calendar uses
planetary names for each day of the week.
The origin of the planetary names is based
on the gods of Greco-Roman mythology.
The English names of the week that we are
most familiar with are derived from these
same
pagan gods but differ in name due to a process
called "Interpretatio Germanica."
According to John Lindow in his book
"Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals,
and Beliefs" (p.202)
"the Germanic
peoples who undertook the translation seem
to have relied
on the Roman gods whose names the planets
bore and to have tried to equate those gods with their own."
In the cases of [Sunday and Monday the translation was obvious]
The other cases however were more difficult."
Sunday in Latin, dies Solis or Sol, is probably
the most obvious--it is literally the day
of the Sun.
Sol Invictus was the Roman sun god, the same
pagan deity that is worshipped at Christmas.
Monday in Latin, dies Lunae or Luna, again
is not too difficult to determine--it is
the day of the
Moon.
Luna is a Roman goddess and was seen as the
female companion of Sol.
Tuesday in Latin, dies Martis or Mars, is
a bit harder to explain.
The name Tuesday is derived from an old English
word Tiwesdaeg or Tiw's day.
Tiw was the Norse god of war but in Latin
the name of the god of war is Mars.
So, the day of the week as well as the month
of March and the red planet in our solar system
are all named after the Roman god of war.
Wednesday in Latin, dies Mercurii or Mercury,
again is not so straight forward.
The name Wednesday is derived from an old
English word Wodnesdaeg or Woden's Day.
Woden is one of the many different names and
pronunciations for Odin, a Norse god, although
some archeologists have thought that Odin
may well have been a historical figure.
Tacitus, a 1st century AD Roman historian,
identified the Germanic worship of Odin to
the
Roman worship of Mercury.
Mercury was seen to be cunning and changeable,
hence the word "mercurial" and Odin was
viewed in a similar way.
Thursday in Latin, dies Lovis or Jupiter is
derived from another old English name for
Thor's Day.
T
hor is the more well-known Norse god of thunder
and Jupiter is the Roman god of the sky and
thunder.
Friday in Latin, dies Veneris or Venus comes
from the old English word Frigedaeg or Frige Day.
Frige is a Norse goddess and wife of Odin.
The etymology of her name appears to mean
dear, beloved and one that is free.
In comparison,
Venus is the goddess of love, which would
explain the association.
Finally, the last day of the week is Saturday
or in Latin, dies Saturni or Saturn.
Saturn was the Roman harvest god and other
linguistic roots point towards the Germanic
deity
"Saetere" who was a harvester of people.
It is interesting to note that in many of
the Romance Languages this day is actually
named after
its religious origin--Sabado or in Hebrew
Shabbat, known in English as the Sabbath day.
In his book History of the Anglo-Saxons (p.51),
Sir Francis Palgrave records an important
observation on the naming of the days of the
week.
"Others have erred, not so much by denying
the Almighty, as by bestowing his attributes
upon
his creatures, to whom they have rendered
the worship due to the Creator.
The sun going forth in his course, the moon
walking in brightness, and the starry host
of
heaven, have all received the honour appertaining
only to the power by whom they were
framed."
In the words of this author, the naming of
the days of the week are steeped in idolatry.
Our western culture and the religious practices
that are observed by the majority, largely
take
root in pagan idolatry and the question we
hope you will ask yourself is, are you ok
with that?
I am Jonathan Riley for Tomorrow's World
Viewpoint.
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Pride is a very strong word; it can have two
very
different definitions.
Is it a good thing to parade your pride?
