Why do we have to get up early every Monday? Who has caused this? Mesopotamia, the planets and a few Roman gods.
It was in Mesopotamia that the first astrologers began to analyze the cycles of the moon and the planets. They created a calendar with years and months. Then, the week as a concept is believed to be organized like that due to the seven celestial bodies (the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn).
Later, it was also seen that between two lunar phases there are approximately seven days. The four lunar phases are: full moon, waning moon, new moon and crescent moon. Seven and seven, everything fits; maybe it is true that we are just numbers and mathematics.
Each of the days also had a link to mythology and gods.
Monday. In Roman mythology, Diana is the goddess of the moon. Diana has the power to talk to and control animals.
Tuesday. The Latin Tuesday, dies Martis is named after Mars, the Roman god of war.
Wednesday. Wednesday comes from Woden, the Old German and English name for the Norse god Odin. In contrast, Mercury, the Roman god for whom dies Mercurii is named, is a messenger god.
Thursday. Thor’s Day, the Norse god of Thunder. Thor is associated with both the chief Roman god Jupiter who gives his name to the Latin Thursday dies Iovis and the Greek half-god Hercules.
Friday. Frigg, the wife of Odin and the goddess of love and beauty.
Saturday. Saturn was the Roman god of fertility, agriculture and time.
Sunday. Many societies have worshipped the sun and sun-gods. Perhaps the most famous is the Egyptian Sun-god Ra, who was the lord of time.
Wow! That’s cool. The truth is that the origin seems exciting to me. However, it has ended in a universal rule that we all follow, which tells us that on Mondays we have to pout and on Fridays get drunk.
When I travel, I am still surprised at how different each culture is, but we all have decided to organize our time in the same way. I would like to find a country with some free days in the middle of the week or any other organization. This bores me. But of course, I think it’s difficult to fight against all the Roman and Norse gods, so yes, I have to set the alarm clock for tomorrow.