Why is 'Monday' the first day of the week?

Perhaps many of us never pay attention to the origin of the days of the week.

The origin of the first Monday of the week

Two of the earliest civilizations that used the 7-day weekday calendar were Babylonians and Jews. However, the naming of the days comes from ancient Egyptian astrologers with the daily attachment of the name of a god.

For most people, Sunday was once considered the sun's day from ancient Egypt . The Egyptians passed on the idea of ​​7 days a week to the Romans, who also started a week on Sundays, also called dies solis. When translated into ancient German, it was named sunnon-dagaz, and eventually changed to medieval English as sone (n) day.

In the Christian tradition, the first day of the week coincides with the first book of the Bible - Genesis - when one of the first things God does is say "shine, and light appears" . However, not all civilizations regard Sunday as the first day of the week, notably Slavic languages . Accordingly, Sunday is the weekend and not named after the sun god.

The 19th-century bracelet artifacts kept at Walters Art Museum with designs of Roman gods symbolizing the days of the week.

Monday is named after the Moon . In Latin, it is called dies lunae and converted into Monandaeg (Old English) and Monday in English. With Slavic culture, Monday will be the first day of the week.

According to the international standard ISO 8601, introduced since 1988, Monday is considered to be the first day of the week and this international convention is of course widely applied in many countries around the world, as well as at public companies. multinational companies.

In China, Monday (星期一, read: xīngqīyī) also means 'the first day of the week '. The name of the second day in many languages, such as Georgian, Syriac, Slavic . also means ' first day '.

In modern society, Monday is even more definite as the first day of the week because it is easy to understand, Monday is the day when adults will return to work and children will return to school after the last week of rest.

Tuesday is always reserved for the god of war . In ancient Greece, it was called Hemera Areos (day of Ares). For the Romans, this is dies Martis and in Old English Tiwesdaeg, according to the Nordic war god Tiwaz (or Tiw)

Originally, Wednesday was the day of the messenger of the gods , and in ancient Greece, Wednesday was called Hemera Hermu (day of Hermes), then dies Mercurii. When they moved to the Anglo-Saxons, they spent this day on Odin, or Woden.

Jupiter is dedicated to Thursday , dies Jovis in Roman. Meanwhile, in England, this day is for Thor and is called thurresdaeg, or later thur (e) sday.

One of the most anticipated days, Friday, is for Aphrodite and Venus . In Northern Europe and Old England, Venus is associated with the image of Frigg, the wise goddess. In ancient English, this day is called frigedaeg or fridai in the Middle Ages.

With many cultures, Saturday is the last day of the week. In Latin, this day is called dies Satumi, later changed to Saterday in medieval English. It is worth noting that many cultures consider Saturday, not Sunday, as holidays.