Our Days of the Week Tell a Story

Life, Death, and Fertility

Many of us already know that the days of our week were named after Roman and Germanic gods. Thursday was named after Thor, and Saturday after the Roman god Saturn (also associated with the planet). But a closer look shows the weekdays weren’t chosen randomly. There is a hidden message, and it tells the story of Genesis.

Our modern seven-day week came about during the 1st to 3rd centuries AD. That’s when the Romans replaced their earlier eight-day week, and the Germanic peoples further north began dropping their nine-day week. (Three weeks of 9 days equals a 27-day moon month, which is also the duration of a woman’s menstruation cycle.)