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Why the Week Has Seven Days

Catherine Boeckmann
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No more logic supports seven days than, say eight or five, yet the seven-day week has resisted any and all attempt at change.

Unlike the year and the month, which correspond to the movements of the earth around the sun and the moon around the earth, the week has no astronomical analogue. Seven days is roughly the same length of a phase of the moon (seven days, nine hours) but any system of timekeeping quickly falls apart due to the extra hours piling up.

Officially adopted by the Emperor Constantine in A.D. 321, the seven-day week goes back thousands of years. Here’s some history…

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  • The seven-day week started with the first civilizations of the Middle East. Mesopotamian astrologers designated one day for each of the seven most prominent objects in the sky—the Sun, the Moon, and the five major planets visible to the naked eye.
  • The Jews also adopted a seven-day cycle, based on the time it took the Lord to create the universe as reported in Genesis. A new wrinkle in their week was the Sabbath, a day set aside for rest. This was the first time a culture had invented a holiday that occurred on a regular basis, unrelated to natural phenomena.
  • The Romans adopted different weeks for business reasons; they thought of a week as the 8 days between market days.
  • West African societies preferred a four-day market cycle.
  • In Assyria, 6 days was the rule; in Egypt, 10; in China; 15.
  • The ancient Germans used a five-day cycle named for their primary gods which is how our week ended up honoring Norse deities like Tiw (Tuesday), Odin (Wednesday), Thor (Thursday), and Frigga (Friday). Our word “week” may come from the Old Norse word vikja, which means “to turn.” Sunday and Monday, or course, honor the Sun and the Moon.

Atheistic revolutionaries tried, unsuccessfully, to get rid of the seven-day week. In 1793 the leaders of the French Revolution produced a new calendar divided into three ten-day “decades.” It never caught on, and Napoleon abandoned it in 1805.

In 1929 the Soviet Union tried a five-day week, with one day of rest.

  • Instead of the traditional day names, the days were given colors: yellow, orange, red, purple, and green.
  • In order to keep mass production going, each Soviet citizen was assigned a different day of rest, so that a husband might have a yellow day off, while his wife took her leisure on green.
  • Due to mass confusion, the plan was revised in 1932 to a six-day week, with numbers replacing the colors.
  • By 1940, the Russians were back on the familiar seven-day cycle!

Somebody was always trying to come up with something better! In 1936 the League of Nations solicited proposals for world calendar reform and considered almost 200 different schemes, many of which rearranged the week.

  • Edward Skille of Drummund, Wisconsin, suggested a year consisting of 73 five-day weeks called “metos.” The days of the week would be called Ano, Beno, Ceno, Deno, and Eno.

Why the seven-day week? It doesn’t divide evenly into 365- or 366-day years, so that holidays fall on different days of the week from year to year. But human beings are not logical creatures. Who can imagine saying, “What are you doing next purple?” or “Yeah, it’s Eno!”

As one member of the British Parliament remarked in a 1944 debate on calendar reform, “It is bad enough to be born on April 1, but to have one’s birthday always on a Monday would be perfectly intolerable.”

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About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
 

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Comments

Charles (not verified)

2 years 3 months ago

Sorry, I missed this, but evolution may take place, but it never 'makes' entirely new creatures, but animals 'evolve' within their own species by means of selective breeding, but they never ever become something else they are not. The fossil record clearly backs this up. 'Is Genesis History' really does a bang-up job in explaining it all, but DNA does not allow a fish to grow legs and get lungs and start to roam the ground, Jesus made every creature unique and special, and they produce after their own kind. There had to be a being who was not affected by time, space, and matter, who was all-knowing who could put this earth and solar system and universe together, with such detail that it continues on its own in a logical manner, without creating or destroying anything; its self-sustaining. That Creator is Jesus. What a beautiful planet He made for man, and yet, we have evolved to the point where we deny His very existence, but He is the only answer to all that we see around us and why we are the way we are.

The subject at hand currently being discussed by the US Government of the existence of and threat from UFOs...in that the debate should be, if GOD the Ultimate most Holiest and Fundamental Deity and entity, created ALL (and in 6 days, even HE (SHE? had to rest on one day)...then did HE/SHE also CREATE ALIEN BEINGS...what are aka UAPs...green men from.outer space, unknown "civilizations" ( how do we know they are civilized if we perceive them as a threat to our national security?). Why is the RCC Vatican HIDING all sorts of evidence on this? that there were present aliens during the times Jesus Christ was alive...and why can't we have a 4 day work week and a 3 day weekend in USA, damn it and get rid of this horrible murder suicide inducing Eastern daylight saving for crying outloud!!

Charles (not verified)

2 years 3 months ago

Carlo, when scripture is not literal, scripture clearly points out in terms such as 'like this' or 'in a vision' and scripture clearly defines the time frames as evening and morning were the 1st day, a single rotation of the planet. Jesus does not need an evolutionary explanation for His creation, He is highly capable of doing what He said He did, and does, and is coming back to do. This world is falling apart, because of the original sin of man, and it is getting worse, because man continues to not trust God for man's salvation, but we believe we can save ourselves. The Bible is not a fairy tale, nor is it a good idea put together by man, but it is an autobiography of Jesus' story of how man originated and how we ended up where we are at, and where we are headed, if we do not repent and turn from our wicked way and trust Jesus to save us from death, the second death, aka hell.

Well stated L Maunder. The bible does not state how long it took God to "create the heavens and the earth."(Gen 1:1) However after it became "without form, and void"(Gen 1:2) it took God 6 days to put it back together in a state to be inhabited. And then he rested on the seventh day.

Both of you are JWs or taught by JWs, Moses created HIS 7-day week in 1513bc which is long after Adam. Your perspective is backwards as to what comes first. There was no WEEK before Noah's Flood. It is a creation centuries after that Flood.

T.G. Carpenter (not verified)

11 years 6 months ago

'The Jews also adopted a seven day week, based on the time it took the lord to create the universe as reported in Genesis" -- or vice-versa
Isn't it more logical to believe that Genesis was written by the Jews under the assumption that it took the lord one seven day week to create the universe!

The first five books of the Old Testament were written, not by "the Jews", but by one Jew - Moses. From the incident of the burning bush forward, Moses was in regular, sometimes daily communication one-on-One with God Most High, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (except for what happens after Moses' death) are the work of this one man, and based on what God revealed to him. That includes not just the law, but the entire history of man on this earth, gradually focusing on the descendants of Abraham. As to the age of the earth, God did not create Adam an infant - he created him a fully grown adult. In just that same way, He could easily have created the earth to also be mature and ready for human life. For a God who can speak the most intricate, complex systems into creation, doing all that in six days is in no way a stretch.

No scholar believes that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, and a careful reading makes it obvious even to a non-scholar.

"Moses was a humble man, more humble than anyone else on earth." - Number 12:3. That would be a very strange thing for a man to write about himself.

Or something as simple as Genesis 36:31: "These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned." That had to have been written after the establishment of the Israeli monarchy.

Sebastian (not verified)

12 years 1 month ago

If the week had 10 days, it would make sense. You have 3 10-day weeks.

If there ever was 10 days a week in calendar each year, then I believe the 12 months would look like this:

January
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07 - 08 - 09 - 10
11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20
21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30
31

February
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07 - 08 - 09
10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19
20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28

March
01
02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07 - 08 - 09 - 10 - 11
12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21
22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31

April
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07 - 08 - 09 - 10
11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20
21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30

May
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07 - 08 - 09 - 10
11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20
21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30
31

June
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07 - 08 - 09
10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19
20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29
30

July
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07 - 08 - 09
10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19
20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29
30 - 31

August
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07 - 08
09 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18
19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28
29 - 30 - 31

September
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07
08 - 09 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17
18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27
28 - 29 - 30

October
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07
08 - 09 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17
18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27
28 - 29 - 30 - 31

November
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06
07 - 08 - 09 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16
17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26
27 - 28 - 29 - 30

December
01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06
07 - 08 - 09 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16
17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26
27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31

If Year 1 starts on Day 1 and ends on Day 5 - Year 2 will start on Day 6 and end on Day 10! Then Year 3 starts on Day 1 and ends on Day 5 again! And then Year 4 begins on Day 6 but this time will have the Leap Day February 29 included which will have Year 4 end on Day 1 of a New 10-Day Week!!! :0)

Anyhow, that was all I was wanting to share!!!