Days, Months and Seasons

Longcase clock by Luke Smyth of Yoxford, England c. 1790

Ever wondered why there are seven days in a week?

Our calendar originates from a mixture of pagan and mythical beliefs, including:

• days
• months
• seasons

It's convenient for followers of a religion to conform to society norms, even when there is no religious connection. For example, our way of measuring time (see hours, minutes and seconds) are based on an early Babylonian system, and our modern calendar is based on pagan practices and astrology.

But whether we have religious leanings or not, we don't think of the calendar as a pagan thing; it's merely a means to measure time, using things called 'days' and 'months'.

Origins of our day names

The seven celestial bodies

The days of the week are based on Greek mythology. The original Greek and Roman naming has changed over the years to match the equivalent gods of north European mythology. (Similar names are used in other European languages, such as French, German, Italian and Spanish.)

But first, let's go back to the Egyptian astronomers who identified seven celestial bodies: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. They believed these revolved in Heaven around a stationary Earth and twinkly stars.

Having determined these bodies were pretty mysterious and therefore important, they had little to do other than amuse themselves by sitting on the banks of the Nile, looking up at the sky to contemplate the concept of 'time'.

They divided the daylight time into 12 hours; a Zodiacally convenient number which divides cleanly by 2, 3, 4 and 6. The night time was also divided by 12, but the length of day 'hours' and night 'hours' would differ according to the season.

And we're stuck with that "base 12" system today, even though it seems more natural to use the decimal (base 10) numeral system, which is easy to count using our fingers. But the ancient astronomers were more 'scientific' and used two numeral systems: duodecimal (base 12) and sexagesimal (base 60). 

They named each hour after a particular celestial body:

The 8th hour would recycle to the Saturn hour, as would the 15th and 22nd. Following this pattern, the 23rd hour would be Jupiter, the 24th Mars, and the 1st hour of the next day would be the Sun.

From this method, the first hour of each day was named after:

Each day was consecrated to the celestial body of its first hour, which has resulted not only in us having seven days a week, but also the names of those days.

The first day of a week was Saturn's day (Saturday), but on their flight from the Egyptians, the Jews changed this and made Saturday their Sabbath, the last day of the week. Christian leaders later moved observance of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday as part of their theological and historical split from Judaism, whilst maintaining respect for the Hebrew Scriptures. 

Following the Jewish day numbering system, with the last day of the week being Saturday, the first day of the week became:

• Sunday: Day of the Sun

  Sun worship has always been popular and for obvious reasons - the sun gives us the warmth and light essential for survival. Some believe that the halo seen in Christian icons, the sun-shaped Eucharist wafer contained in the Catholic monstrance, and several other instances, look very much like pagan sun worshipping.

  See also Sun Cross.

  (More on our sister website.)

• Monday: Day of the Moon

  Named after Mona, the god of the light ball in the night sky, and tide maker.

  See also Moon Cross.

  (More on our sister website.)

• Tuesday: Day of Mars

  Named after Mars or Aires, god of war. The French for Tuesday is Mardi

  See also the Mardi Gras Cross.

  (More on our sister website.)

• Wednesday: Woden's day

  Named after Woden, king of the gods.

  See also Woden's Cross.

  (More on our sister website.)

• Thursday: Thor's day

  Named after Thor, the god of thunder.

  See also Thor's Cross.

  (More on our sister website.)

• Friday: Fria's day

  Named after Freya's day, the goddess of love).

  See also Valentine Cross.

  (More on our sister website.)

• Saturday: Saturn's day

  Named after Saturn, god of agriculture.

  People believed that sacrificing a farm animal to Saturni would increase the chances of pleasing the god, resulting in favourable weather and a good crop.

  See also Sacrifice Cross.

  (More on our sister website.)

Origins of our month names

The word 'month' stems from 'moon', and 'calendar' stems from calare (to call out), just as the ancient priests did when they announced a new moon. The month names we use were chosen to celebrate Roman deities and emperors. (Similar names are used in other European languages, such as French, German, Italian and Spanish.)

• January: Roman god Janus was the god of doorways, entrances, gateways, thresholds and beginnings, and therefore used for the opening of the New Year.
• February: This used to be the last month of the Roman calendar. The 15th day of the month was a Pagan festival of purification called Februa and so this month came to be known as Februa's month. The day before that, and the day after (ides), was a holiday to honour Juno. The goddess Juno was the Queen of the Roman gods and goddesses, and also the goddess of women and marriage. Was it coincidence that the nasty Emperor Claudius II arranged for a priest named Valentine to be clubbed to death and then beheaded on this day? See St. Valentine's Cross.
• March: The Roman god Mars, god of war and guardian of the state. This was the first month of the ancient Roman calendar.
• April: Considered a sacred Roman month for the goddess Venus. The name 'April' is probably from Apru, an Etruscan borrowing of Greek Aphrodite, a fertility goddess. Alternatively, it may stem from the Latin aperire (to open), as so many buds and blossoms open in this month (in the northern hemisphere).
• May: This is from Maia a Roman goddess of earth, honour and reverence. She was wife of Vulcan, mother of Mercury by Jupiter and daughter of Atlas. It became a popular girl's name in English.
• June: The chief goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and queen of the heavens and gods. June became another popular name for girls, as did:-
• July: Named after the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BC to deify and immortalize his name. Gaius Julius Caesar was born in this month, which was formerly Quintilis (fifth) month of the Roman calendar.
• August: Named in 8 BC after Augustus Caesar, the adopted heir of Julius Caesar and the first Roman emperor (31 BC – 14 AD). A synonym for the adjective 'august' is 'venerable', and the emperor was known as the Venerable Caesar. Quite a contrast to the month's original name, 'Weodmonao', which means 'month of weeds'. Today's gardeners would agree with that.

The last four months are just based on a mundane numbering system. The year used to begin in March, so September through to December were months 7 to 10. A numbering system is still used in many cultures today for the whole year. Modern Japanese, for example, has 1-gatsu, 2-gatsu, 3-gatsu ... 12-gatsu. Similarly in Chinese: 1-yuè, 2-yuè, 3-yuè ... 12-yuè.

(Curiously, when Pope Gregory XIII changed the calendar system in 1582 and established the Gregorian calendar with January as the first month of the year, he didn't bother to rename any of these months. December, for example, could have been changed to acknowledge Advent or Christmas with Advenber or Chrisber.)

• September: This name comes from the Latin septem, meaning 'seven'. (See The last four months above.) September marks the start of the summer sales in the Northern Hemisphere and the start of the winter sales in the Southern Hemisphere.
• October: This name comes from the Latin octo, meaning 'eight'. (Octopus – an 8-sided cat?) October is the month when people start thinking of Christmas and New Year parties. Amaze your friends by telling them the day of the week for Christmas Day and New Year's Day; these days are always the same weekday as 2 October.
• November: This name comes from the Latin novem, meaning 'nine'.
• December: This name comes from the Latin decem, meaning 'ten'.

Origins of our season names

• Winter: No mythical god ... just cold! The season of wind and white snow, hence the name 'winter'.
• Spring: The time when new plants spring up after a harsh winter.
• Summer: From Old Norse 'sumarsdag', the time for lots of sunshine.
• Autumn: The time for reaping and harvesting the main crops of the year. The old English name for this season of 'harvest' was replaced by the Latin autumnus in the 16^th century. Also known as 'fall' in the USA, as this is the time the temperature falls and leaves fall from the trees. (You've probably noticed that already.)

These mythical and pagan ideas have absolutely no meaning to a monotheistic believer like a Christian. The Christian doesn't care one iota that his months are named after 12 mythical gods, when they could easily be named after the 12 Apostles. Neither does he care that the four seasons are agriculturally related and not consecrated to the four evangelists.

And that is very fortunate for the rest of the world.

Imagine the utter confusion if we all adopted different standards. As humans, we can see the sense and logic of accepting such things.

Why then, cannot we accept other differences? Why, in this 21^st century, do some Christians and Muslims fight? Why do some Protestants and Catholics fight? Why do some Shia and Sunni fight? All we need is a tiny extension to the tolerance that we have so readily given for pagan objects of worship.