The Days of the Week, the New Year, and the Century
by The days of the week and the year we are currently using are roughly based on a calendar devised by Greeks and revised by the Romans. The Pontifices, up to the time of Julius Caesar had the power to regulate the calendar. They sometimes even lengthened or shortened it as a means to extend or cut short the term of office of political person they liked or disliked.
As most Christians celebrate their New Year on December 31, which is the eve of January 1st of the following year so do other religions of various nationalities on other days in accordance with their own respective calendars.
For example, the Indians, their calendar is based on the moon, their New Year is movable. It depends when their paddy crop is ready for harvest. You will notice that in every home lights a clay bowl with wicks called “Deepwali.” Religious services are done in every Temple known as “pooja” with bright lights in every corner and nook.
Now let us talk about the days of the week. Sunday got its name from the sun and therefore it is sun’s day. The following day is moon’s day which was shortened to Monday. The Spanish word for it is Lunes, which comes from the Spanish word Luna, meaning moon. Tuesday derived its name from the god of war Tiw, similar to the Latin god of battle, Martis. Wednesday was named after the Saxon god Woden. It also comes from the name of the Roman god Mercury, in Spanish. While Thursday is Thor’s day, it comes from Thor, a Norse god who is equivalent to Roman Jupiter or Jove. Friday was named after Freya, the Saxon goddess of beauty which is similar to the Roman’s Venus. Saturday is derived from the planet Saturn, which is also regarded as another god of mythology.
One calendar reform man named Everett E. Mumaw of Kingsville, Ohio, in his spectrum calendar; he colored the days and numbered them as well: red for Monday, orange for Tuesday, yellow for Wednesday, green for Thursday, blue for Friday, Indigo for Saturday, and violet for Sunday.
Come to think of this, if we seem to be a century ahead of our calendar, simply because we forget that the second century began with the year 101. Remember that a century is a period of 100 years. The years 1 through 100 A.D. are called the first century. The years from A.D. 101 and 200 are in the second century. In the year 201 A.D. we began the third century. By counting in this way, the years between 1901 and 2000 is the 20th century.
Believe it or not, there is only one year that is very easy to remember – even upside down – 1961. Now the next year that can be read upside down again will be 6009.
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