Days of the week

DannyBloem

As JW's always believed that the days of the week came from God, this is probably not true. The week is a pagan symbol.

That a week has seven days can best be explained by astronomy. There are 7 heavenly bodies: sun, moon, and 5 visible planets. So "giving" a day to each of these heavenly bodies became a cycle of 7 days. That this cycle was a good appoximation of the lunar cycle also, made it a keeper. One week from new moon to half, one more to full moon etc.

Here is a systematic view:

each of those symbols represents the heavenly bodies:

These symbols represent the following days:

Day	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Luminary & symbol	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn
Latin	dies solis	dies lunae	dies Martis	dies Mercurii	dies Jovis	dies Veneris	dies Saturni
Italian	domenica (1)	lunedì	martedì	mercoledì	giovedì	venerdì	sabato (2)
Spanish	domingo (1)	lunes	martes	miércoles	jueves	viernes	sábado (2)
Romanian	duminica (1)	luni	marti	miercuri	joi	vineri	sâmbata (2)
French	dimanche (1)	lundi	mardi	mercredi	jeudi	vendredi	samedi (2)

We see that the names of the days still represent the names of the planets, sun and moon in some languages. In english, german and my language some of the names of the days were replaced by scandanavian gods.

So, the week a pagan symbol.

DannyB

IP_SEC

In addition Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are the days of Norse gods.

Wednesday= Woden’s day or Odin’s day
Thursday= Thor’s day
Friday= Freya’s day

slugga

Monday - G ets its name from Mani (Old English Mona ), the Germanic Moon god.

Tuesday - The English and Scandinavian names are derived from the Nordic god Tyr (in Old English , Tiw , Tew or Tiu . In Swedish , Tisdag , Danish : Tirsdag , Finnish : Tiistai ).

Wednesday - Gets its name from Wodnesdæg meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the 7th C. AD

Thursday - Comes from the Old English Þunresdæg, meaning the day of Þunor, commonly known in Modern English as Thor , the Norse god of thunder.

Friday - Comes from the Old English frigedæg, meaning the day of Frige , the Norse god of beauty

Saturday - Is the only day of the week to retain its Roman origin in English, named after the Roman god of time Saturn .

Sunday - Gets its name from Sunna , or Sunne the Germanic sun goddess

Its a wonder that the org never renamed the days of the week !

IP_SEC

Its a wonder that the org never ; renamed the days of the week !

They did try slugga

carla

Isn't it the Mennonites who do not use traditional names for days of the week? Instead they say 'first day, second day, and so on. I think it's them. no time to research it today. my only point is they at least stay true to the 'no pagan' theme.

DannyBloem

They did try slugga

did they? Really?

(that would be even more confusing the C.E. and B.C.E.)

Leolaia

Actually, the reason why the week has 7 days is based not on the number of planets or other astrological symbols (if so, these are secondary), but on the lunar calendar, in which the month is exactly 29.53 days long from new moon to new moon. Each week corresponds with a phase of the moon, and since there are four phases, each week is 7.3825 in length. Note that there is a remainder of a third of a day for each week; this is why the actual length of the month varies in a lunar calendar between 29 days and 30 days.

slugga

Isn't it the Mennonites who do not use traditional names for days of the week? Instead they say 'first day, second day, and so on. I think it's them. no time to research it today. my only point is they at least stay true to the 'no pagan' theme.

I believe the quakers do this

slugga

They did try slugga

Would have been worth it just to hear brothers saying "Thank f**k its Franzday !"

lol

Leolaia

An interesting parallel may be found in post-exilic Judaism. The lunar calendar which survives to this day is rooted in the Babylonian calendar; hence there are months like "Tammuz," which is the name of a Babylonian god paralleled to Baal and worshipped by "idolatrous" Jews as Ezekiel 8:14-15 describes (the weeping occurred, in fact, in the month of Tammuz). The restored Temple cult of the Zadokite priests rejected this lunar calendar and used the old solar calendar (attested in the Priestly account of the Flood in Genesis), which had fixed 30-day months (and the four equinoxes and solstices that did not belong to the months, but ushered in the seasons; with the 12 months, the year would total 364 days), and each month did not have a name but was simply numbered. This sacerdotal calendar is attested elsewhere in the Bible only in Daniel, which simply numbers the months as first month, second month, etc., and Revelation (which of course was influenced by Daniel). The overriding interest in Daniel, of course, is for the restoration of the Temple cult and the institution of the tmyd or "constant sacrifice", and the attempt by Hellenizers (who used a lunar calendar) to "change the times and seasons" by abolishing the solar calendar. The old solar calendar is elsewhere only known in the Qumran calendrical texts and in Jubilees and the "Book of Luminaries" in 1 Enoch. The Society has no understanding of the former existence of a solar calendar in Judea, and thus makes reference to a non-existent "prophetic calendar" when they refer to biblical texts that attest the Zadokite solar calender.

Days of the week

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