Origins Of Saturday

Today is Saturday – the final day of the week and the only off day in the week for us in Nepal. Located between Friday and Sunday, Saturday is a day for many to relax, spend time with the family, hang out with friends and catch up on pending work. Whatever our plans though, one thing we do not necessarily do is think about the day itself. Questions like what Saturday is, what it stands for and why it has the name it has may have never crossed our minds. But still, it is worth taking a peek at because why not. Saturday is a time for unloading the mind and looking at things that may be irrelevant but are at least mildly interesting.

Saturday is named after the planet Saturn, which in turn was named after the Roman god Saturn. The Romans first called the diēs Sāturnī which later evolved to its present form ‘Saturday’ as it entered the Germanic and Dutch languages.

Today, Saturday has two names in German – Samstag, which traces its origins to the Greek and Hebrew words for Sabbath, and Sonnabend, which is closely related to the Old English word for “sun eve” or “the day before Sunday.”

The English name Saturday shares its linguistic roots with the Dutch Zaterdag and Low Saxon Satertag. Previously, it was thought that this English appellation came from the name of the god Sætere. Before Europe turned Christian, Sætere was a deity worshipped by the people of what is today north-western Germany. At present though, it is widely accepted that Saturday is derived from the Roman diēs Sāturnī.

In Hinduism and South Asia too, Saturday is considered Saturn’s day which is why it is called Shanibar, Shani being the name of the planet Saturn in Sanskrit-derived languages. This is the case in Thailand too whose solar calendar names the day Wan Sao where the Sao means Saturn.

In Islamic countries, Saturdays are called Sabt which is related to the Sabbath, a day of abstinence from work in Abrahamic religions, most notably in Judaism and Christianity.

Pakistan, though, is an anomaly. Despite being a Muslim South Asian country, it varies from both the Islamic and South Asian naming conventions and calls Saturday Hafta. Hafta literally means the week.

In Japan again, the word for Saturday is related to the planet Saturn. The Japanese call Saturday Doyōbi which means ‘soil day’ and is associated with Dosei (Saturn) or the “soil star.” In Korean too, Tho Yo Il, which means Earth Day, is the name given to Saturday. The element Earth was associated with Saturn in traditional Confucian astrology.

In Scandinavian countries, Saturday means Laurdag or bath-day. The name is related to the Viking practice of bathing on Saturdays. The Finnish and Estonian names for the day, Lauantai and Laupäev respectively, also come from this same term.

We in Nepal mark Saturday as the seventh day of the week. We are not alone in this as many cultures and religions, including the three big Abrahamic ones (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) around the world observe Saturday at the end of the week. However, the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) requires nations to regard it as the sixth day. Many do not though and choose to put indigenous culture before global norms. National calendars around the world have their own conventions for ordering days of the week and choose to go by the Anno Domini (AD) system when interacting internationally. So, the placement of Saturday does not seem to have hampered global relations despite the lack of adherence to the ISO rule.

A fun fact about Saturday is that in Australia and New Zealand, elections can only be held on Saturdays. In Sweden and Norway, Saturday is traditionally the only day of the week when young children are given sweets. This limit is aimed at improving dental health. In Israel, Saturday is the official day of rest and is taken very seriously. All government offices, private institutions and even some forms of public transportation are closed on this day. Thailand was a specific colour associated with this day and it is purple.

On the superstitious side of things, Saturdays used to be seen as a day to hunt vampires. In the Balkans, children born on Saturdays were believed to possess the ability to see vampires invisible to others and were taken on these vampire hunts.