Empirical Origin of the Naming and Division of the Week

[ProjectFlammarion]

Hello, this is my first post here. This was inspired after reading Brian Cotnoir's Practical Alchemy. Figures from the book too.

As a kid when I asked why the days of the week are named after various deities (Thursday = Thor's Day, Friday = Freya's Day) and the sun and moon (Sunday = Sun's Day, Monday = Moon's Day). I got a vague answer about it being a linguistic legacy from the Vikings. Here's what Google gives me.

What about why we have a 7 day week when the solar year's 365 days is not divisible by 7? Well that's because God created the world in 7 days, resting on the last.

So let's break it down. 7 days a week because Abrahamic religions believe God created the world in 7 days, and somehow the pagans picked 7 as well. Specifically, Sunday = Sun's Day, Monday = Moon's Day, Tuesday = Tyr's Day, Wednesday = Wodin's (Odin) day, Thursday = Thor's Day, Friday = Freya's Day, Saturday = Saturn's Day. Saturn being the only Roman deity among all the Norse ones.

Well, apparently our alchemist friends, who are their own rabbit hole, have a different version of history. We have 7 days in a week, named not after 2 celestial objects and 4 Norse deities, and 1 Roman deity, but the 7 ruling celestial objects. The Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. See the alchemists say the each day of the week is ruled by one of the celestial objects. Specifically, the "First Hour" aka the hour starting at sunrise, is ruled the celestial object of the day, and the ruling celestial object changes every hour, making it so that the ruling celestial object is different on each day, repeating in cycles of 7. Here is the chart from the book.

So what we have is Sunday = Sun, Monday = Moon, Tuesday = Tyr the God of War AKA Mars, Wednesday = Woden/Odin except the Roman's according to Tacitus associate that being with Mercury just like our Alchemical chart, Thursday = Thor = Jupiter because they're both thunder gods, and Saturday = Saturn.

A few more thoughts from personal knowledge.

1. In Islamic cultures, the first day of the week is Sunday, not Monday like in the west, which I guess is the original form.
2. In Catholicism and Judaism, priests and monks base their prayers based on the "Hours of the Day" structured similar to the alchemist, where the "First Hour" = Sunrise.

So my question is, is our current weekly calendar based on an amalgamation of Norse, Roman, and Abrahamic cultures... or is it based on the empirical observation of astrologers of a past civilization?

 

[Breizh]

The Ethiopian calendar is worth considering here. It correlates to the Mayan system in some ways (which is based on a 13 moon/13 month year), and shares many elements common to our current weekly calendar. It's 7 years behind, so their 2012 was "our" 2019.

The Ethiopian variable time system is interesting also:

The Ethiopian time is unique. Instead of the 24-hour clock used in most parts of the world, Ethiopians use a 12-hour clock that starts at sunrise (which is 1:00 on the clock) and ends at sunset (which is 12:00 on the clock). This means that the time of day is constantly changing throughout the year, with longer days in the summer and shorter days in the winter. Ethiopians also divide the day into two cycles of 12 hours each, with the first cycle starting at sunrise and the second cycle starting at sunset.

1. In Islamic cultures, the first day of the week is Sunday, not Monday like in the west, which I guess is the original form.

The original Sabbath day according to Israelites is Saturday which would make Sunday the "first day" of the week. Arguably the Israelites abide by the Bible more closely than any so-called "Christians" (this includes catholics and protestants).

 

[moyal]

In Islamic cultures, the first day of the week is Sunday, not Monday like in the west, which I guess is the original form.

In Germany Monday ist just since 1976 first day of the week. German name for Wednesday is "Mittwoch", literally "Middle of the Week".
Also, there are still sold calendars with Sunday as first day of the week in Germany.

 

[MaziarMohajer]

The first day of week in Muslim countries is Saturday after Friday -

السبت : Arabic

Farsi : شنبه

 

[ProjectFlammarion]

The Ethiopian calendar is worth considering here.

I started looking into the Ethiopian and then other calendars like Buddhist, Chinese, Celtic etc after your reply. It does get weird. It looks like there were multiple systems going on, but they're culturally universal. Like the Chinese have traditions of 8 and 10 day weeks in their myths, and quick google search said that Rome had an 8 day week until Constantine the Great made the 7 day week the official system. At least according to Wikipedia. I have more on this I plan to write up later.

The similarities among the more niche side of the calendar across cultures is way too striking. Here is a Buddhist week I found online that coincides with my initial hypothesis. The days of the week are in reference to the celestial objects based on the first hour of the respective day in a 7 day cycle. It's one thing to say all cultures looked up at the sky and charted the stars, so it's a coincidence that they all ended up with a 7 day a week cycle based on the most prominent celestial objects. But that they all have the same order by accident seems unlikely.

In Germany Monday ist just since 1976 first day of the week.

That's also interesting, I looked more into this and it actually looks like Sunday was the official first day in most Western countries until a few decades ago. It's also the legal first day in the US. There's even a "International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 8601 standard" signed in Geneva. But why? It looks like everybody was on board with Sunday as the first day, so there's no need for further standardization.

The first day of week in Muslim countries is Saturday after Friday

I've lived in Syria and Lebanon, the first day was Sunday and Monday respectively. The names of the first five days are numerical. First, second, third, fourth, fifth. Friday "Jm3a" means communion/gathering. Saturday is Sabbath. I did look into your comment more, and it looks like you're right in many Muslim countries. Saudi uses Sunday as the first day, but many of the rest use Saturday including Iran.

It's a cycle so I guess there can be variations in where a circle starts, but I think it's fair to assume that the 7 day cycle is based on astrological observations on which planet is dominant in the first hour. Sunday would have been the standard start, but as the original astrological intent is no longer used, the start of the cycle changed based on the local culture/religion.