The vocabulary of days and dates

The vocabulary of days and dates reveals British history and culture in, perhaps, unexpected ways. Different cultures assign different names to days of the week and months of the year. These names reveal the culture which created them. For farming communities, the seasons were very important, so they studied the position of the sun in the sky to give a clue to the beginning and end of the seasons. Around December 21st, the sun is at its northernmost point in the sky. Around 21st June, the sun is at its southernmost point. These days are called the Winter Solstice and the Summer Solstice. There are also two days in March and in September when the day and the night seem to be equal in length. These are the Spring Equinox and the Autumn Equinox. For farmers, the planting season seemed to the logical New Year, so the year date would change on the 25th March.

The Calendar
Humans live under the sun during the day and the moon during the night. The cycle of sunrise and sunset create the day. The cycle of the moon, (approximately 28 days) create months. The cycle of the sun (approximately 360 days) create the year. Because we are talking about cycles, there is no obvious beginning or end to any period within the cycle. When does the day begin? When does today become tomorrow? For us, it seems obvious that midnight should be the time at which today becomes tomorrow. But why? In the Jewish culture, Saturday (Sabat), which is the Holy day, begins at sunset on Friday. The same can be seen in the Islamic culture, in which the days are measured from sunset to the next sunset. This is particularly important during the holy month of Ramadan during which Muslims can eat and drink during the hours of darkness, but must not eat or drink during daylight hours. Many other cultures follow the same pattern. When does the year begin? When will 2011 become 2012? Well, on 31st December, of course. But it was not always like that. In temperate areas of the world, there are four seasons: Spring, the season of planting; Summer, the season of growing; Autumn, the season of harvest; and Winter, the season of darkness. When do these seasons begin and end?

The week
The week has seven days so that each 28 day month contains about four weeks. In English, the days of the week were named after the pre-Christian gods they celebrated. Monday is moons day. This is similar to Lunedi in French. In many other European languages, Monday is also name after the moon. Tuesday is named after the god Tiw, or Tyr, in an old religion from Norway and Sweden. Wednesday is the day of Wodan or Odins day. Wodan or Odin was the most powerful of the gods. He was god of the sky and of war. He was married to another god, Frige. We will meet her again when we get to Friday. Thursday is Thors day. Thor is the god of thunder. In the old religion, Thor was the son of Wodan and Frige. Friday is Friges day. Frige was the wife of Wodan and the mother of Thor.

Author: Nick Dawson Pearson

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Saturday is named after the planet Saturn (the planets with rings). The Saturn god was the god of farming. Saturday is the only day named after a Roman god. Sunday, as you can guess, is the day of the Sun. As we can see, the names of weekdays are very, very old. What are the weekdays called in your language? What is the origin of the names? The names may be a clue to your history and culture.

also the name of the biggest planet in the solar system. Juno was the goddess of marriage. Many people choose to get married in June. July is named after Julius Caesar. He was emperor of the Roman Empire. His birthday was in July. August is named after another emperor, Augustus Caesar. He was the first Emperor of the Roman Empire. September is named after sept, the number seven, meaning the seventh month. Of course today September is the ninth month, but in Roman times, when the year started in March, September was the seventh month. When the calendar changed, people kept the old name. October, November and December are named after the numbers eight, nine, and ten.

Months of the year

We have seen that most of the days of the week are named after Nordic gods. The months of the year are from Roman traditions. January is named after the Roman god, Janus. Janus had two faces one looking forward and the other looking backward. He was the god of doorways and gates. With his two faces, he looks back to the old year and forward to the new year. February comes from the Latin word meaning purification, making something very clean. In the past houses were very dirty after being closed up for the winter. February was a good time for cleaning the house. March was named after Mars, the planet and the god of war. The Romans thought that March was a good time to fight wars. April comes from the Latin word aprilis, meaning to open. April was the month when the flowers opened and leaves began to grow. Some people think that April was named after the Goddess Aphrodite, the god of love. May is named after the Roman Goddess, Maia. She was the goddess of spring and the earth. June gets its name from the Roman goddess Juno. She was the queen of the gods because she was married to Jupiter, the king of the gods. As you know, Jupiter is Author: Nick Dawson Pearson

How many days in a month?

Learn this little poem to help you to remember: Thirty days has September, April, June and November, All the rest have thirty-one, Except for February alone.

Conclusions
The year is based on four cycles: the 365 day year cycle, the 28 day month cycle, the seven day weekly cycle and the 24 hour day cycle. These numbers are not exact. A year is approximately 365.25 days (so we add an extra day at the end of February every four years. We call these Leap years). A day is about 24 hours, but the speed of the earth spinning is changing and sometimes scientist add a leap second to make the day a little bit longer. The twelve month calendar we use today is a mess but it has been changed through history as scientists have become more skilled at measuring periods of time.

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