The Surprising Origins of The Days of the Week and Those Russians

The seven day week was in use right back with the ancient Babylonians, around 700BC, when the Babylonians associated seven gods they worshipped, with celestial bodies visible to them in the sky; they then associated these gods with days of the week. The ancient Egyptians and Chinese, however, had a 10 day week, probably related to having 10 fingers. The ancient Babylonian system won.

The Greeks also adopted the seven day week but translated the Babylonian names into Greek names from their astrology and religion, such as Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Cronus.

The Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli

Then, along came the conquering Romans, who adopted the same seven day system but translated the celestial bodies into Latin names: Sol, Luna, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. Names which are still evident in the French days of the week, used today.

Lundi moon day

Mardi 'Mars day'

Mercredi 'Mercury day'

Jeudi 'Jupiter day'

Vendredi 'Venus day'

Samedi 'day of the Sabbath'

Dimanche 'day of the Lord'

The seven-day week system spread to Britain and the Anglo-Saxons translated the planetary names but used the names of their own deities, which is why in English we have days of Tiw, Woden, Thor and Freya; but they kept Saturn.

Monday moon day

Tuesday Tiu's day

Wednesday Woden's day

Thursday Thor's day

Friday Freya's day

Saturday Saturn day

Sunday Sun's day

The seven day system spread around the world and was translated in terms of local religious deities and customs.

Japanese

月曜日 (getsuyōbi) 'moon day'

火曜日 (kayōbi) 'fire day'

水曜日 (suiyōbi) 'water day'

木曜日 (mokuyōbi) 'wood day'

金曜日 (kinyōbi) 'metal day'

土曜日 (doyōbi) 'earth day'

日曜日 (nichiyōbi) 'sun day'

in AD 321, the Emperor Constantine decreed that the "dies solis" (Sunday) would be the day of rest for Christians; this also served to separate the Christians from the Jews, as the Jewish rest day, called Shabbat, is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night.

The Soviet Union under Stalin got rid of the seven day week for a period of 11 years. Called the nepreryvka, this “continuous working week” was five days long, with rest days staggered during the 5 week days. There were two main reasons for the nepreryvka: to increase productivity and to make religious worship too difficult. The seven day week was reinstated in 1940.