Saturday

Saturday is the day of the week between Friday and Sunday. No later than the 2nd century, the Romans named Saturday ("Saturn's Day") for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day, according to Vettius Valens. The day's name was introduced into West Germanic languages and is recorded in the Low German languages such as Middle Low German , ''saterdach'', Middle Dutch (Modern Dutch ) and Old English , ''Sæterndæġ'' or .

Origins

Between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD, the Roman Empire gradually replaced the eight-day Roman nundinal cycle with the seven-day week. The astrological order of the days was explained by Vettius Valens and Dio Cassius (and Chaucer gave the same explanation in his '' Treatise on the Astrolabe''). According to these authors, it was a principle of astrology that the heavenly bodies presided, in succession, over the hours of the day. The association of the weekdays with the respective deities is thus indirect, the days are named for the planets, which were in turn named for the deities.

The Germanic peoples adapted the system introduced by the Romans but glossed their indigenous gods over the Roman deities in a process known as '' interpretatio germanica''. In the case of Saturday, however, the Roman name was borrowed directly by West Germanic peoples, apparently because none of the Germanic gods were considered to be counterparts of the Roman god Saturn. Otherwise Old Norse and Old High German did not borrow the name of the Roman god (Icelandic , German ).

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Saturdays are days on which the Theotokos (Mother of God) and All Saints are commemorated, and the day on which prayers for the dead are especially offered, in remembrance that it was on a Saturday that Jesus lay dead in the tomb. The Octoechos contains hymns on these themes, arranged in an eight-week cycle, that are chanted on Saturdays throughout the year. At the end of services on Saturday, the dismissal begins with the words: "May Christ our True God, through the intercessions of his most-pure Mother, of the holy, glorious and right victorious Martyrs, of our reverend and God-bearing Fathers…". For the Orthodox, Saturday — with the sole exception of Holy Saturday — is never a strict fast day. When a Saturday falls during one of the fasting seasons ( Great Lent, Nativity Fast, Apostles' Fast, Dormition Fast) the fasting rules are always lessened to an extent. The Great Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross and the Beheading of St. John the Baptist are normally observed as strict fast days, but if they fall on a Saturday or Sunday, the fast is lessened.

Name and associations

Today, Saturday has two names in modern Standard German. The first word, , is always used in Austria, Liechtenstein, and the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and generally used in southern and western Germany. It derives from Old High German , the first part (''sambaz'') of which derives from Greek , and this Greek word derives from Hebrew , . However, the current German word for Sabbath is . The second name for Saturday in German is , which derives from Old High German , and is closely related to the Old English word . It means literally "Sun eve", i.e., "The day before Sunday". is generally used in northern and eastern Germany, and was also the official name for Saturday in East Germany. Even if these two names are used regionally differently, they are usually understood at least passively in the other part.

In West Frisian there are also two words for Saturday. In Wood Frisian it is , and in Clay Frisian it is , derived from , a combination of Old Frisian , meaning ''sun'' and ''joen'', meaning eve.

In the Westphalian dialects of Low Saxon, in East Frisian Low Saxon and in the Saterland Frisian language, Saturday is called , also akin to Dutch , which has the same linguistic roots as the English word ''Saturday''. It was formerly thought that the English name referred to a deity named ''Sætere'' who was venerated by the pre-Christian peoples of north-western Germany, some of whom were the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons. Sætere was identified as either a god associated with the harvest of possible Slav origin, or another name for Loki a complex deity associated with both good and evil; this latter suggestion may be due to Jacob Grimm. However, modern dictionaries derive the name from ''Saturn''.

In most languages of India, Saturday is , meaning day, based on Shani, the Vedic god manifested in the planet Saturn. In the Thai solar calendar of Thailand, the day is named from the Pali word for Saturn, and the color associated with Saturday is purple. In Pakistan, Saturday is , meaning the week. In Eastern Indian languages like Bengali Saturday is called , meaning Saturn's Day and is the first day of the Bengali Week in the Bengali calendar.
In Islamic countries, Fridays are considered as the last or penultimate day of the week and are holidays along with Thursdays or Saturdays; Saturday is called , (cognate to Sabbath) and it is the first day of the week in many Arab countries but the Last Day in other Islamic countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Central Asian countries.

In Japanese, the word Saturday is , , meaning 'soil day' and is associated with , : Saturn (the planet), literally meaning "soil star". Similarly, in Korean the word Saturday is , , also meaning earth day. The element Earth was associated with the planet Saturn in Chinese astrology and philosophy.

The modern Māori name for Saturday, , literally means "washing-day" – a vestige of early colonized life when Māori converts would set aside time on the Saturday to wash their whites for Church on Sunday. A common alternative Māori name for Saturday is the transliteration .

Quakers traditionally referred to Saturday as "Seventh Day", eschewing the " pagan" origin of the name.

In Scandinavian countries, Saturday is called , , or , the name being derived from the old word '' laugr/laug'' (hence Icelandic name ), meaning bath, thus ''Lördag'' equates to bath-day. This is due to the Viking practice of bathing on Saturdays. The roots ''lör'', ''laugar'' and so forth are cognate to the English word '' lye'', in the sense of detergent. The Finnish and Estonian names for the day, and , respectively, are also derived from this term.

Position in the week

The international standard ISO 8601 sets Saturday as the sixth day of the week. The three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) regard Saturday as the seventh day of the week. As a result, many refused the ISO 8601 standards and continue to use Saturday as their seventh day.

Saturday Sabbath

For Jews, Messianics, Seventh Day Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists, the seventh day of the week, known as Shabbat (or Sabbath for Seventh-day Adventists), stretches from sundown Friday to nightfall Saturday and is the day of rest. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches distinguish between Saturday (Sabbath) and the Lord's Day (Sunday). Other Protestant groups, such as Seventh-day Adventists, hold that the Lord's Day is the Sabbath, according to the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8), and not Sunday.

Astrology

In astrology, Saturn is associated with Saturday, its planet's symbol , and the astrological signs Capricorn and Aquarius.

In popular culture

Regional customs

* In most countries, Saturday is a weekend day (see workweek).
* In Australia, elections must take place on a Saturday.
* In Israel, Saturday is the official day of rest, on which all government offices and most businesses, including some public transportation, are closed.
* In Nepal, Saturday is the last day of the week and is the only official weekly holiday.
* In New Zealand, Saturday is the only day on which elections can be held.
* In Sweden and Norway, Saturday has usually been the only day of the week when especially younger children are allowed to eat sweets, in Swedish and in Norwegian. This tradition was introduced to limit dental caries, utilizing the results of the infamous Vipeholm experiments between 1945–1955. (See festivities in Sweden.)
* In the U.S. state of Louisiana, Saturday is the preferred election day.

Slang

* The amount of criminal activities that take place on Saturday nights has led to the expression, " Saturday night special", a