answersLogoWhite

0

Many people believe that the seven day week, an almost universal concept across all cultures, originated because of the movements of seven heavenly bodies, that is the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn, all of which are visible with the naked eye, and which move around the sky seemingly at random (in the case of the planets). All of these were important to the ancients, and each then represented a day: Monday - Day of the Moon Tuesday - Day of Tiw (the Norse equivalent of Mars, the war god) Wednesday - Day of Woden/Odin (the Norse equivalent of Jupiter, the chief god, but here equating Mercury) Thursday - Day of Thor (Again, Jupiter, the god who makes thunder) Friday - Day of Freyja (the Norse equivalent of Venus, the goddess of love) Saturday - Day of Saturn Sunday - Day of the Sun Here then is the week, which is also conveniently a quarter of the lunar cycle, or month. This was a very useful unit of timekeeping, as it allowed farmers to plan the times of planting their crops more accurately than just using the moon.

User Avatar

Wiki User

18y ago

What else can I help you with?