Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel_
Does the bible actually name the days?
I thought it numbered them only in Genesis.
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The official first day of the week, based on the Norse mythos (which later was adopted by the Romans and remolded slightly), as we now know and utilize them, always had Sunday as the first day of the week. It makes sense if you look at the logically in that the beginning of the week would be a celebration of the Sun, usually associated with beginnings, sunrises, etc.
Saturday, which was also known as the "Sabbath" or the "seventh day" for early Jews and Christians based on the teachings of the Torah, Qu'ran, and first millenia Christian Bible, was the universal religious day of rest for those that observed the laws of their Church, and the Bible
story of creation.
Saturn's day was once referred to as Dies Saturni (the day of Saturn) in the Roman Catholic Empire that took hold in the majority of Europe. Alternatively, as it is more commonly known in Latin and Romantic languages, Saturday still, in a fair share of European countries, their language, and their influence (S. America, E. Asia) is in some confluence still referred to as the once-regarded Sabbath, or
sabado (sabato, Σάββατο, etc.). Now, from the influence of what was the Roman Catholicism, there were some schisms and reforms to how the days of the week would be from hence forth allocated.
To keep it short, the Roman Catholic Church took it upon themselves to celebrate the day of Jesus's resurrection more fully; so, in that vein, the Church took the most prominent day of the week, Sunday (which is a celebration of the Sun that sustains us on Earth, and also as a play-on-words as the "Son of God") and incorporated it with the most prominent observation of the time, the day of rest known as the Sabbath. In essence, it was just a slight bump in the order and numeration of the days of the week; while the days remained unchanged in order, day #1 became day #7 (Sunday).
As for me, I still refer to Sunday as the first day of the week, Monday two, and onward. But from what was changed centuries ago by the Roman Catholic Empire regarding the progression of the days of the week, (and for that matter, the progression of months... September-December were always months #7-10 before new months July and August came into creation and significance) I "observe" the Sabbath as the midway point in between Saturday and Sunday. After all, in the Western world, most of us at least know that we can get both days of the weekend to rest, therefore what was once the singular seventh day of rest, is now a two-for-one deal.
I do know that in the Middle East still, the Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and lasts until the twilight between Saturday/Sunday,
I provided this historical expalantion as a more topical reason as to was why Sunday and Monday, especially in North and South America, are confused sometimes and interchangeable as the recognized and "offical" first day of the week.