A week is a unit of time longer than a day and shorter than a month. In most modern societies the week is a period of seven days. The weekly cycle of seven days runs independently of the cycle of a calendar. The common denominator in both cases is the day. This article is about days of the week. ... : See how it plays in Peoria United States Illinois Peoria 46. ... United States Illinois McLean 22. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Largest metro area Chicago Metropolitan Area Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (140,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ... WEEK-TV/WEEK-DT is the NBC affiliate for the Peoria-Bloomington, Illinois television market. ... The former Weights and Measures office in Middlesex, England. ... Look up time in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up day in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Month in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Calendar (disambiguation) A page from the Hindu calendar 1871–1872. ... Look up day in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The week as indicator of market day

Although seven day weeks are common to all modern societies now, anthropologists note that weeks of other durations (varying from three to eight days) are found in many pre-modern societies. They also observe that the name for "week" is often the same as that for "market day", suggesting the concept of a week is likely to arise in any agrarian or pre-agrarian society where people have marketplaces or market days. In sparsely populated areas where trade is not conducted every day it is essential that farmers and consumers agree in advance on what day they will meet, especially if the walk to market takes several hours or days. The week (meaning a fixed count of days) was much simpler and more precise way of doing this when compared with a lunar calendar-based system or a system based on the seasonal rotation of the celestial sphere. Being based on a count kept by people rather than on the relative motion of the moon and stars, the week was not "heavenly", but in the traditional seven-day week, this was overcome by assigning the sun, moon, and the five planets known to the ancients (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) each to a specific day of the week. The following is a list of scientists and scholars of anthropology: Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z John Adair Talal Asad Timothy Asch Nigel Barley Fredrik... A lunar calendar is a calendar in many cultures that is oriented at the moon phase. ... The celestial sphere is divided by the celestial equator. ...

Origin of the seven-day week

The following text needs to be harmonized with text in the article Days of the week. (See e.g. Wikipedia:Summary style.)

Weekday heptagram used for the planets or the days of the week

The seven-day week became established in both the West and East according to different paths: Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... This article is about days of the week. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A heptagram or septegram is a seven-pointed star drawn with seven straight strokes. ... For alternative meanings for The West in the United States, see the U.S. West and American West. ... The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures, social structures and philosophical systems of the East, namely Asia (including China, India, Japan, and surrounding regions). ...

Hindu, Babylonian, and Jewish seven-day week

• Hindu civilization employed a seven-day week, mentioned in the Ramayana, a sacred epic written in Sanskrit about 500 BCE, as Bhanu-vaar meaning Sunday, Soma-vaar meaning Moon-day and so forth.
• The ancient Babylonians observed a seven-day week, stemming from astronomical observation and association. Days and deities were based on the seven heavenly bodies or "luminaries" visible to the naked eye (the Sun, Moon, and 5 visible planets).
• The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim seven-day week is modeled on the biblical creation story, in which God created the universe in six days, then rested on the seventh.

Other theories speculate that the fixed seven-day period appeared due to evenly dividing a lunar month into quarters. This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ... For the television series by Ramanand Sagar, see Ramayan (TV series). ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Babylonia was a state in southern Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... For other uses, see Astronomy (disambiguation). ... Sol redirects here. ... This article is about Earths moon. ... This article is about the astronomical term. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... For other uses, see Christian (disambiguation). ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two successive similar syzygies (new moons or full moons). ...

Chinese seven-day week

The Chinese use of the seven day week (and thus Korean, Japanese, Tibetan, and Vietnamese use) traces back to the 600s CE. The 28 stars were arranged in order of sun, moon, fire, water, wood, gold, earth, and every 7 days were called "qi-yao". The days were assigned to each of the luminaries, but the week did not affect social life or the official calendar. The law in the Han Dynasty required officials of the empire to rest every 5 days, called "mu", while it was changed into 10 days in the Tang Dynasty, called "huan" or xún (旬). With months being almost 3 weeks long (alternating 29 and 30 days) the weeks were labelled shàng xún (上旬), zhōng xún (中旬), and xià xún (下旬) which mean roughly "upper", "middle" and "lower" week. The 7 days "week" in ancient China is mostly kept in astrological purposes and cited in several Buddhist texts until the Jesuits reintroduced the concept in the 16th century. Thus the 19th century Japanese, when adopting the seven day western week, took their own astrological week with names for the days of the week that corresponded to the English names (and in fact were better preservations of the original Babylonian concepts, the English day names having been conflated with gods from Germanic mythology). By contrast, the Japanese names refer to the Chinese Sun, Moon and the five planets. The only difference is that the planets in the Japanese week have Chinese names based on the five elements rather than pagan deities.^[1] The Tibetan calendar is a lunisolar calendar, that is, the Tibetan year is composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... ROSIE IS A GERMN LADYGermanic paganism refers to the religion of the Germanic nations preceding Christianization. ... Chinese Wood (木) | Fire (火) Earth (土) | Metal (金) | Water (æ°´) Japanese Earth (地) | Water (æ°´) | Fire (火) | Air / Wind (風) | Void / Sky / Heaven (空) Hinduism and Buddhism Vayu / Pavan — Air / Wind Agni / Tejas — Fire Akasha — Aether Prithvi / Bhumi — Earth Ap / Jala — Water In traditional Chinese philosophy, natural phenomena can be classified into the Five Elements (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ): wood, fire...

Later use of the week

Various groups of citizens of the Roman Empire adopted the week, especially those who had spent time in the eastern parts of the empire, such as Egypt, where the 7-day week was in use. Contemporaneously, Christians, following the biblical instruction, spread the week's use along with their religion. For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is...

As the early Christians evolved from being Jewish to being a distinct group, various groups evolved from celebrating both the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) and the first day or the Lord's Day (Sunday), to celebrating only Sunday. For other uses, see Sabbath. ... The Lords Day is one of the traditional Christian names for Sunday, the first day of the Judaeo-Christian seven-day week, observed by most Christians as the memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is said in the four canonical gospels of the New Testament to have... For other uses, see Sabbath. ...

In 321 CE the Roman Emperor Constantine I decreed that Sunday is to be the day of rest throughout the Roman Empire. Events Publication of the first blue law by Constantine I of the Roman Empire: trade is forbidden on Sundays; agriculture is allowed The Roman Catholic church is allowed to hold property Births Deaths Categories: 321 ... Constantine. ...

The Jews of the 4th century retained their tradition of Saturday observance, by then 800 to 1700 years old, and continue to do so. Later, after the establishment of Islam, Friday became that religion's day of observance. For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ...

The seven-day week soon became a practice among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Following European colonization and the subsequent rise of global corporate business, the seven-day week has become universal in keeping time, even in cultures that did not practise it before. Because of the two-day weekend, some modern calendars end the week on Sunday and begin it on Monday. The ISO week date, part of the international standard ISO 8601, also defines Monday as the first day of the week. In practice, this means that calendar formats disagree, and that "next week" said on Sunday means "the week beginning tomorrow". Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that Benign colonialism be merged into this article or section. ... The rise of multinational corporations and outsourcing have played a crucial part in globalization. ... Week End The weekend is a part of the week lasting one or two days in which most paid workers do not work. ... The ISO week date system is a leap week calendar system that is part of the ISO 8601 date and time standard. ... ISO 8601 is an international standard for date and time representations issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ...

In that international standard, the "first week of the year" is that week which includes the first Thursday of the year. This way, if a year starts in a long weekend Friday–Sunday, week 1 of the year will start after that. Since the New Year's Day itself is a holiday in many countries, this means that the first working day of the year is in week 1.

Weeks and the calendar year

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Although without a direct astronomical basis^[clarify] (seven days is just under a quarter of a lunar month), it is widely used as a unit of time, especially in the social and commercial context. Weeks can be thought of as forming an independent continuous calendar running in parallel with various other calendars. Image File history File links Emblem-contradict. ... For other uses, see Astronomy (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Calendar (disambiguation) A page from the Hindu calendar 1871–1872. ...

However, some novel calendars have been designed in which the weeks and years are forced into synchronization by adding a leap week or weekless days into the calendar. The advantage of these calendars is that a given date always falls on the same day of the week every year. For example the proposed World Calendar has 52 weeks and one or two extra days each year, while the 18th century French Revolutionary Calendar had 36 weeks of 10 days and five or six extra days. Alternatively, instead of adding extra days outside of weeks, it is possible to add entire weeks to the calendar if the years are allowed to vary in length by more than a day; for example, the former Icelandic calendar had years of 52 or 53 weeks. An early Norse calendar, from the beginning of the Viking Age, had five day weeks, called fimmts, arranged in 12 months of six fimmts each, with five ceremonial days not part of any month. The Hermetic Lunar Week Calendar uses the lunar week which is a quarter of a lunation and has 6, 7, 8 or 9 days (average 7.382647 days). The World Calendar is a proposed reform of the Gregorian calendar created by Elisabeth Achelis of Brooklyn, New York in 1930. ... The French Revolutionary Calendar or French Republican Calendar is a calendar proposed during the French Revolution, and in use by the French government for 13 years from 1793. ... Political map of the Nordic countries and associated territories. ... Viking Age is the term denoting the years from about 800 to 1066 in Scandinavian History[1][2][3]. // The Vikings have been much maligned in European history, due in large part to their violent attacks on Christians in the first centuries of their excursions out of Scandinavia. ... A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. ... Lunation is the mean time for one lunar phase cycle (i. ...

Days of the week

Traditionally, the first day of the seven day week is Sunday. This applies even in Christian societies where Sunday is a Sabbath day. Most business and social calendars in Western societies mark Sunday as the first day of the week.^{[citation needed]} This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article concerns the Sabbath in Christianity. ...

In English the days of the week are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article is about days of the week. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The god Týr, identified with Mars, after whom Tuesday is named. ... For other uses, see Wednesday (disambiguation). ... The god Thor, after whom Thursday is named. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Monday is considered in some societies to be the first day of the week and is literally named as such in languages such as Mandarin ('xinqiyi') and Lithuanian ('pirmadienis'). The ISO prescribes Monday as the first day of the week with ISO-8601 for software date formats. Logo of the International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from national standards bodies. ... ISO 8601 is an international standard for date and time representations issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ...

Saturday and Sunday are commonly called the weekend and are days of rest and recreation in most western countries. Friday and Saturday are days of rest in some Muslim countries. In Israel, the days of rest are Saturday and either Friday or Sunday, at the option of the individual. The Jewish Sabbath lasts from Friday sunset to Saturday nightfall. Week End The weekend is a part of the week lasting one or two days in which most paid workers do not work. ... “Fun” redirects here. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Sabbath. ...

In some countries such as Iran, the weekend is only one day long (Friday) and the week starts on a Saturday. Other Muslim countries have weekends on Thursday and Friday.

As a consequence, all non-weekend days are known as weekdays; compare Feria. Weekdays are the days of the week which are not part of the weekend, i. ... Feria refers to a day on the Liturgical calendar on which no feast is observed. ...

The two-day weekend has become common only during the twentieth century^{[citation needed]}, leading to some calendars placing Sunday at the end of the week. The five-day working week, and some people mistaking Christian worship on Sunday for observance of the Sabbath day of rest has led most people in recent years to consider Monday to be the first day of the week^{[citation needed]}.

Facts and figures

• 1 week = 7 days = 168 hours = 10,080 minutes = 604,800 seconds (except at daylight saving time transitions or leap seconds)
• 1 Gregorian calendar year = 52 weeks + 1 day (2 days in a leap year)
• 1 week = 23.01% of an average month

In a Gregorian mean year there are exactly 365.2425 days, and thus exactly 52.1775 weeks (unlike the Julian year of 365.25 days, which does not contain a number of weeks represented by a finite decimal expansion). There are exactly 20871 weeks in 400 Gregorian years, so 10 April 1605 was a Sunday just like 10 April 2005. Although DST is common in Europe and North America, most of the worlds people do not use it. ... A leap second is a one-second adjustment to civil time in order to keep it close to the mean solar time. ... For the calendar of religious holidays and periods, see liturgical year. ... A Julian year is on average 365. ... is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1605 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

A system of Dominical letters has been used to determine the day of week in the Gregorian or the Julian calendar. The days of the year are sometimes designated letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G in a cycle of 7 as an aid for finding the day of week of a given calendar date and in calculating Easter. ... For the calendar of religious holidays and periods, see liturgical year. ... The Julian calendar was a reform of the Roman calendar which was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC and came into force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). ...

Week number

Weeks in a Gregorian calendar year can be numbered for each year. This style of numbering is commonly used (for example, by businesses) in some European and Asian countries, but rare elsewhere.

ISO 8601 includes the ISO week date system, a numbering system for weeks; each week is associated with the year in which Thursday occurs (so that if a year starts in a long weekend Friday–Sunday, week one of the year will start after that). Thus, for example, week 1 of 2004 (2004W01) ran from Monday 29 December 2003 to Sunday, 4 January 2004. The highest week number in a year may be 52 or 53. ISO 8601 is an international standard for date and time representations issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ... The ISO week date system is a leap week calendar system that is part of the ISO 8601 date and time standard. ... is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The numbering system in different countries may deviate from the international ISO standard. There are at least six possibilities^{[2] [3]}:

Liturgical week

In Christian liturgy, the week is mainly dominated by the special status of the Sunday. The week was regarded as a sacred institution among the Jews owing to the law of the Sabbath rest and its association with the first chapter of Genesis. The earliest Christian converts seem tenacious of the usages (so far as they were compatible with the law of the Gospel) in which they had been brought up. The Sunday, "the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; cf. Revelation 1:10), soon replaced the Sabbath as the great day of religious observance, but the week itself remained as before. Indeed, there is much to recommend the idea that in the first and second centuries the only commemorations of the great Christian mysteries formed a weekly, not an annual, cycle. Sunday, according to the Epistle of Barnabas (xv), was "the beginning of another world", and the writer further says: "Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the which also Jesus rose from the dead and having been manifested ascended into the heavens". Again the Didache (viii) ordains: "Let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; for they fast on the second [Monday] and fifth [Thursday] days of the week, but do ye fast on the fourth [Wednesday] and on the day of preparation [Friday]", while in c. xiv we are told "And on the Day of the Lord come together and break bread and give thanks". Altogether it becomes clear from the language of Tertullian, the Apostolic Constitution and other early writers that the Sunday in each week was regarded as commemorating the Resurrection, and the Wednesday and Friday the betrayal and Passion of Christ. A liturgy is the customary public worship of a religious group, according to their particular traditions. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Sabbath. ... For other uses, see Genesis (disambiguation). ... The Epistle of Barnabas is a Greek treatise with some features of an epistle containing twenty-one chapters, preserved complete in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus where it appears at the end of the New Testament. ... The Didache (, Koine Greek for Teaching[1]) is the common name of a brief early Christian treatise ( 70–160), containing instructions for Christian communities. ... Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, (ca. ...

Although this simple primitive conception gave place in time, as feasts were introduced and multiplied, to an annual calendar, the week always retained its importance; this is particularly seen in the Divine Office in the hebdomadal division of the Psalter for recitation. Amalarius preserves for us the particulars of the arrangement accepted in the chapel royal at Aachen in 802 CE by which the whole Psalter was recited in the course of each week. In its broader features the division was identical with that theoretically imposed by the Roman Breviary until the recent publication of the Apostolic Constitution "Divine afflatu" on 1 Nov., 1911 CE. Moreover, it appears from Amalarius that the Carlovingian arrangement was in substance the same as that already accepted by the Roman Church. Already in the sixth century, St. Benedict had clearly laid down the principle that the entire Psalter was to be recited at least once in the week; indeed a similar arrangement was attributed to Pope St. Damasus. Canonical hours are ancient divisions of time (also called offices), developed by the Christian Church, serving as increments between prayers. ... Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... Amalarius of Metz was a Liturgist. ... This article is about Saint Benedict of Nursia, for other uses of the name Benedict see Benedict (disambiguation) Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. ... Pope Damasus I ( 305-383) was Pope from 366. ...

The consecration of particular days of the week to particular subjects of devotion is also officially recognized by the special Office of the Blessed Virgin on the Saturday, by the Friday Masses of the Passion during Lent and by the arrangement of Votive Offices for special week days approved by Pope Leo XIII. For a long time in the early Middle Ages, Thursday was regarded in the West as a sort of lesser feast or Sunday, probably because it was the day of the week on which the Ascension fell (cf. Bede, "Hist. Eccl.", IV, 25). Again the Breviary approved after the Council of Trent left certain devotion accretions to the Office, e.g. the Office for the Dead, Gradual Psalms, etc, to be said once a week, particularly on the Mondays of Advent and Lent. It has been suggested that Cuaresma be merged into this article or section. ... A Votive Office was a Roman Catholic practice to celebrate particular feasts that were not in the Catholic liturgical calendar. ... Pope Leo XIII (March 2, 1810—July 20, 1903), born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903, succeeding Pope Pius IX. Reigning until the age of 93, he was the oldest pope, and had the third longest pontificate... Also refers to the process of gaining Enlightenment and several meditation techniques. ... The Council of Trent is the Nineteenth Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. ... μ This article is about the Christian season. ...

See also

• Fortnight
• Times from 100 kiloseconds to 1 megasecond

A fortnight is a unit of time equal to two weeks: that is 14 days, or literally 14 nights. ... To help compare orders of magnitude of different times this page lists times between 105 seconds and 106 seconds (27. ...

References

1. ^ Days of the Week in Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese
2. ^ http://www.pjh2.de/datetime/weeknumber/wnd.php?l=en#Legend
3. ^ Calendar Weeks

• Falk, Michael (1999). "Astronomical Names for the Days of the Week", Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 93, p.122. 1999JRASC..93..122F.
• F. H. Colson, The week (1926).
• Eviatar Zerubavel, The seven day circle (1989) ISBN 0226981657.
• This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is the Canadian equivalent of the British Royal Astronomical Society, which began informally in the 1800s, but received a royal charter in 1903 from King Edward VII. The society incorporated nationally in 1968, prior to which its incorporation was limited to Ontario. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

External links

Look up Week in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• The Mysterious 7-Day Cycle (history with Christian editorial)
• The Week (part of Claus Tøndering's Calendar FAQ)
• Take Our Word For IT had its spotlight on the week
• Compilation of holidays and weekends information for various countries