Have you ever wondered where the names come from for the days of the week or why there are actually seven days in a week? I often have, but never really went into it until today. Nobody really knows why there are seven days in a week - there are so many different reasons. One being that God created the world in six days and had a rest on the seventh day. Another reason could be that there was one day of the week for each of the seven visible planets i.e. Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn.
MONDAY - Monday is from Old English Mondaeg and means "day of the moon". It was dedicated to the Moon.
TUESDAY - Tuesday is an Anglo-Saxon name honouring the god of war called Tiw. It is pronounced "tue". It was dedicated to Mars.
WEDNESDAY - Wednesday is an Anglo-Saxon name honouring the god "Odin" or "Woden". It was dedicated to Mercury.
THURSDAY - Thursday is an Anglo Saxon name and means "day of thunder". It was dedicated to Jupiter.
FRIDAY - Friday is from Old English Frigedaeg, and is named after the Norse goddess "Frigg" who was the wife of Odin. It was dedicated to Venus.
SATURDAY - Saturday is named after the Roman god "Saturn".
SUNDAY- Sunday is an Anglo- Saxon name and means "day of the sun". It was dedicated to the Sun.
Why are there 12 months in the year, 60 minutes in an hour etc?
Why are there twelve months in the year?
Julius Caesar's astronomers explained the need for 12 months in a year and the addition of a leap year to synchronize with the seasons. At the time, there were only ten months in the calendar while there are just over 12 lunar cycles in a year.
The months of January and February were added to the calendar and the original fifth and sixth months were renamed July and August in honour of Julius Caesar and his successor Augustus.
These months were both given 31 days to reflect their importance, having been named after Roman leaders.
Who divided the day into 24 hours?
The Ancient Egyptians were the first to use 24 hours to divide the day. They divided the day into 12 hours from sunrise to sunset, and the night into a further 12 hours from sunset to sunrise.
Why are minutes and hours divided into 60?
When the hour was divided into 60 minutes, consisting of 60 seconds, the number 60 was probably chosen for its mathematical convenience. It is divisible by a large number of smaller numbers without a remainder: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30.
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