# Is Sunday really the first day of the week? Really? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 19, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450 "2012-05-19T18:51:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450/21 "2012-05-20T07:58:32Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Do you put both of your bookends on the same side? No . . . but do you call one of them a “bookbeginning.” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450/22 "2012-05-20T13:49:59Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > No . . . but do you call one of them a “bookbeginning.” What would work just about as well would be to put a couple of little signs on them. For the one on the left: BOOKS ===\> and on the right: \<=== BOOKS Just for the thinking impaired. They might be compared with [this sign.](http://penneygames.comxa.com/Images/signhassharpedges.html) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450/23 "2012-05-20T14:09:10Z")
The week is like a circle. It has no beginning or end. It does, however, have a radius and a circumference. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450/24 "2012-05-20T14:19:35Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Actually Thursday is the first day of the week. And the universe. Yebbut, that’s just for historical reasons - specifically, the Universe beginning [_last_ Thursday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalos_hypothesis#Last_Thursdayism). ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450/25 "2012-05-20T14:46:40Z")
Is anybody sure that Saturday is really the seventh day mentioned in Genesis? Did people perfectly keep up with what day it was all the way until Christians decided to go to church the day after? ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450/26 "2012-05-20T20:15:31Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Is anybody sure that Saturday is really the seventh day mentioned in Genesis? Did people perfectly keep up with what day it was all the way until Christians decided to go to church the day after? I suppose that, considering that all religion is basically what someone in charge says or what enough people agree upon, if they say it’s Saturday it’s Saturday. Plus Genesis is most likely fictional, so it would have been hard to keep track of anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450/27 "2012-05-20T20:23:30Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > I suppose that, considering that all religion is basically what someone in charge says or what enough people agree upon, if they say it’s Saturday it’s Saturday. Considering that Genesis is most likely fictional it would have been hard to keep track of anyway. Not to beat a dying horse, but in the case of a week, as opposed to a day or even a month, there’s very little besides a count of seven or seven scratches in the dirt to indicate that those seven days are about to repeat. Since Full Moon is very bright and rises at or near sunset, it’s visible. That much is an external signal. New Moon and the Quarters are less easy to see as specific days/nights. So beyond counting, or looking at the calendar, there’s not much in the natural world to signal that a new week (whenever it’s reckoned from and to) is underway. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450/28 "2012-05-20T22:34:59Z")
I’m not too concerned about the religious aspect, but when I went to school for the first time (in Pennsylvania), this is how we were taught the days of the week: Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday And all of the calendars we ever hung up at home or in school, or that I have ever seen in offices have always had the weeks starting with Sunday. Same with calendars we’d get from insurance companies or the hardware store. So, at least there’s agreement among elementary schools and calendar printers, at least in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450/29 "2012-05-20T23:37:32Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Yebbut, that’s just for historical reasons - specifically, the Universe beginning [_last_ Thursday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalos_hypothesis#Last_Thursdayism). It is odd that when the universe was created a few days ago, all the calenders indicated Sunday as the first day of the week. But it’s not the only odd thing about the universe either. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450/30 "2012-05-21T12:09:44Z")
I’ve always been puzzled that Twosday isn’t the second day of the week. And Thirdsday is two days after Twosday. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450/31 "2012-05-21T13:18:52Z")
In Egypt, Friday and Saturday are the “weekend”, inasmuch as they are the two non-work days each week. People work Sunday through Thursday. In some other countries of the Middle East (sorry, can’t think which ones now … maybe Kuwait?) the two non-work days are Thursday and Friday, at least for the government. All that really matters is convention - what day of the week do people expect to see on the far left side of their calendars, and when people ask “so, what are you going to do this weekend?”, which two days are they referring to? As long as a society is in general agreement regarding the answers to those questions, nothing else matters. In Indonesia, Sunday is generally considered to be the first day of the week, but every now and then someone gets cute and decides that following European conventions and putting Monday as the first day of the calendar would give a certain je ne sais quoi to the material. It’s annoying as hell for me as an American, particularly when the days are not even written out but are abbreviated to “S, S, R, K, J, S, M” (Senin, Selasa, Rabu, Kamis, Jumat, Saptu, Minggu – Monday through Sunday in Indonesian). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sunday-really-the-first-day-of-the-week-really/622450.md?page=1)