Did you ever stop to think why the week has seven days, not six or eight? Brasil Escola unveils this mystery right now and, in addition, tells the origin of the names of the days… Let's go!
There are several theories that explain how seven days make up a week. According to history, for example, joining seven days and calling them a week comes from Babylon, in Mesopotamia. The peoples of this region decided to honor seven components of the Solar System that were known until then: the Moon, the Sun and the planets Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn.
There is also the explanation that a week has seven days because that would be the closest time to the alternation between the phases of the moon. There is also the theory whereby it is considered that God created the day in six days and rested in the last, totaling seven.
Days of the week
As already mentioned, the Romans, following astrology, named each of the seven days after the stars of the Solar System. Thus, in Portuguese, we have:
Dies Solis
(Sun's day)Dies Lunae (Moon day)
dies martis (Day of Mars)
Mercuri Dies (Day of Mercury)
Dies Iovis (Day of Jupiter)
Dies Veneris (Venus Day)
Saturni (Saturn day)
In the Spanish language, the tribute is the same. For example, Moons (Monday) refers to the moon. The other days are: Martes, Miércoles, Jueves, Viernes, Saturday and Sunday.
In English, the days of the week also honor the Solar System. monday (Monday) remember “moon”, which means moon. sunday (Sunday), Sun; and Saturday (Saturday), Saturn. the other days are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, these have no connection with the Solar System.
Some days of the week pay homage to the Solar System
Now the question is: why do we use the word fair in Portuguese?
It is used because, in the week of Easter, despite all days being holidays, there were fairs. So it would be Tuesday (first day of the week, Sunday), Monday (Monday), and so on.
Another explanation is that, in early Christianity, people did not have many professional options, so they devoted their time to prayer. The days of prayer were called vacations or holidays.
Weekend
The days that make up the weekend were also named by the Romans. Saturday is considered the day of Saturn. also comes from sabbath, which means “to rest”. For the Jews, the sabbath is considered the day of rest.
On the other hand, Sunday, according to Latin, was called shello dies, “day of the sun”, but the Christians changed that name to dominica, which means "day of the Lord" (dies dominus).
By Silvia Tancredi
Brazil School Team
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/curiosidades/por-que-semana-tem-sete-dias.htm
