:smack: History lesson is now in order. Jew is a shortened form of Yahu, there was no ‘J’ in existance until about 500 years ago (give or take). Yahu was given as a term, by the Romans, to refer to the Yahudim, because they worshipped Yahuah (the true name of Elohim, or ‘God’ if you must, did you watch the video, it explains a lot of this in the beginning). Anyway, the Father’s name, Yahuah or Yah for short, isn’t to be taken in vain, and the Yahudim took that very seriously, and still do. Because they wanted to make sure that no one would ever make fun of the name of the Father again, they stopped using it, in fact they even try to hide His true name even to this day, even go so far as to call Him God (which is a pagan deities name, Dagon). Little do the Yahudim realize, this is far more blasphemous than having a bunch of swine call them Yahu’s (pronounced Yahoo). I guess somewhere along the line they forgot that they had been dubbed this name in blasphemy, and not long after the invention of the letter ‘J’, nations started calling them Jews, and the Nazi’s drove this home to the point where even they think they’re Jews. One more tidbit, for those that don’t know, the name ‘Jesus’ is really ‘Iesus’, in Hebrew this means ‘Hey Horse’ (as in calling your horse to come over), in greek it means ‘Hail Zeus’ (as in praising a false deity), this is very sad…the absolute ultimate in blasphemy actually. 
No, more like a pat on the back from our good old buddy…Constantine…
Depends on the culture of the tourist I suppose. I’m keen on Monday to Sunday calendars and most of them in NZ run that way. I have to do a second look if the week runs Sunday to Saturday.
I also see that Outlook 2003’s calendar starts the week on Monday. Apparently it’s an ISO standard, according to the Wikipedia page on week day names.
Thanks for the great feedback. To clarify a bit: Using the metaphor of the day cycle, the Sun begins the day and the Moon ends the day. I realize the Moon is present in the daylight hours just as much as the nighttime hours, yet only at night does it reign supreme.
It seems to me that the week-cycle should mimic the day-cycle progression in its descriptors, as the day cycle is our primary metaphor for the concept of cycle itself.
The Wikipedia entry for this topic is exhausting (Names of the days of the week - Wikipedia), but I did find one good gem: “According to Vettius Valens, the first hour of the day began at sunset, which follows Greek and Babylonian convention.” This would explain the Moon through Sun cycle as being based off of an anachronistic conception of the day-cycle, starting at sunset and ending at sunrise. Alas, perhaps I am forcing a convenient explanation here for the week-cycle.
Also, I realize that most calendars to arrange the weeks from Sunday to Saturday. This uses the order: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, which is sort of like the arrangement of the solar system. Is this a relic of an incorrect arrangement of ancient astronomy?
Basically, I’m looking for a rational basis for the arrangement of the days of the week, based on their names.
Trying to find rational explanations for cultural behaviors is rarely successful.
And for what its worth, I am surprised to hear that Sunday is the last day of the week. I grew up learning that it was the first day of the week. I have to agree with Siam Sam - making Monday first is a pit-worthy offense. Plus how would Wednesday be the hump day if it was not in the middle of the week?
What makes you think there is one?
And why do you assume that the sun starts the day? What’s rational about that?
So the sun is out at midnight where you are? In most of the world for most of the year, you have a non-zero chance of moon at midnight but a zero chance of sun at midnight.
To confuse you even further, the planet Venus (after whom Friday is named*) is both the Morning Star and the Evening Star. So properly it ought to go “Friday[sub]1[/sub], Moonday, Friday[sub]2[/sub], Sunday…”
*through an interpretation Frigg = Venus.
Keep reading that Wikipedia article that you cited. According to ancient sources, the ordering of the days of the week was based on an astrological principle in which the seven celestial bodies governed the 24 hours of the day in sequence. The order of the planets in the ancient cosmology was (descending toward Earth) Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. Sunday was the day whose first hour was governed by the Sun. The second hour of the same day was governed by Venus, the third by Mercury, and so forth. Cycle through all 24 hours in this manner, and you will find that the hour that opens the second day is governed by … the Moon. Is that what you wanted to know?
Thank you Cato.
From Wikipedia entry: Names of the days of the week - Wikipedia
“The Ptolemaic system asserts that the order of the heavenly bodies, from the farthest to the closest to the Earth, is: Saturn (Saturday), Jupiter (Friday), Mars (Tuesday), Sun (Sunday), Venus (Friday), Mercury (Wednesday), Moon (Monday). (This order was first established by the Greek Stoics.)”
Each hour of the day is dominated by a specific heavenly body, organized by the order shown above. This seven day cycle is repeated throughout the rest of the day, and when the new day starts on the 25th hour we happen to now be on the Sun symbol (Sunday). So that is why Sunday follows Saturday, and by this original system the first day of the week is actually Saturday, and apparently this is also why there are 7 days in the week (to allow the cycle to repeat itself).
The ancient Greeks started their days at sunset, the Babylonians at sunrise. The Romans started at midnight but counted backwards to noon, then up from there, and midday was their main milestone. In other words, the days weren’t necessarily named at midnight.
Nice.
For those missing the joke, there is virtually nothing in this paragraph that is factually correct.
So in order to watch that video, does one need a Yahu account?
Yeah, I know, most of you guys are very much blinded by several millenia of on-going lies (mostly from Catholic’s and Jesuit’s in the last few hundred centuries), but for the sake of not hijacking this thread any further, I will bow out with a question that may or may not leave you questioning and searching for the truth: what is the origin of the Christmas tree? For those that don’t want to spend the next ten years trying to find out, there’s a man who has already figured this out a long time ago, the answer can be found here: fossilizedcustoms.com. This site is actually rather poorly constructed BTW, but a lot of very informative information that will no doubt get your head stretched a little, Mac users may have problems viewing the site. Look for an article called Asherah, and the Christmas Tree, I didn’t send you directly to it 'cause I want you guys to look over the whole thing, but this article will answer the question above in great detail, and lead you down a rabbit hole in which there is no escape, so go to the site if you’re ready to take the perverbial red pill, and yes, you will suddenly believe that you are in the Matrix, take the blue one, and you’ll wake up in your bed tomorrow and nothing will have happened…(I wish I could leave a blinking cursor at the end of this, it would have more effect 
)
I’d like to add that since the Ptolemaic system was wrong about the Sun’s placement in the solar system, the order of the celestial bodies’ average distance from Earth would have to be corrected to Saturn (Saturday)→Jupiter (Thursday)→Mars (Tuesday)→Venus (Friday)→Mercury (Wednesday)→Sun (Sunday)→Moon (Monday).
This new corrected arrangement would completely reorder the days of the week into a sequence of: Saturday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Sunday, Thursday, Wednesday.
see above (Names of the days of the week - Wikipedia)
The convention that the day we call “Sunday” is the First Day goes back to Bible times, or before. I can find (quickly) no mention in the Bible of the names of the days of the week in modern fashion, other than sabbath, first day, or holiday, like Passover. I think modern names, derived from various mythologies, came to be associated later. Maybe as shortly after as the spread of Christianity into the Greek/Roman world.
The names of the days of the week in Hebrew - as spoken today in Israel - are, starting with Sunday: First Day, Second Day, Third Day, Fourth Day, Fifth Day, Sixth Day and Sabbath.
Good job, Alessan, finally someone who knows WTF they’re talking about! 