Saturday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Saturday (disambiguation).

Image:Goya - Saturno devorando a su hijo.jpg

Saturday is the sixth or seventh day of the week, between Friday and Sunday. It is the only day of the week to retain its Roman origin in English, named after the Roman god of agriculture Saturn, calling it dies Saturni, "Saturn's Day", through which form it entered into Old English as Sæternesdæg and evolved into its current form. Many of the other days of the week adopted names of Saxon gods in Northern Europe, in Old English.

In India, Saturday is Shanivar. It is based on Shani, the Vedic God manifested in the planet Saturn.

By tradition derived from ancient Jews, Saturday is the last day of the week. That convention remains universally standard in the United States. In Europe, for several decades, many people have considered Saturday the sixth (penultimate) day of the week, and Sunday the last. This current European labour-orientated convention has been formalized by ISO 8601. However, the three monotheist religions are in agreement that Saturday is the last day of the week. In Islamic countries, Fridays are holidays, however they are considered as the sixth days of the week.

In many countries where Sundays are holidays, Saturday is part of the weekend, and is traditionally a day of relaxation. Many parties are held on Saturdays, because it precedes Sunday, another day of rest. It is common for clubs, bars and restaurants to be open later on Saturday night than on other nights.

In ancient Jewish tradition Saturday is the Shabbat. Christianity adopted this tradition in terms of the Sabbath. Thus, in many languages the Saturday is named after the Sabbath. Eastern Orthodox churches distinguish between the Sabbath (Saturday) and the Lord's Day (Sunday). Roman Catholics put so little emphasis on that distinction that many among them follow – at least in colloquial language – the Protestant practice of calling Sunday the sabbath. Quakers traditionally refer to Saturday as "Seventh Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name.

In Scandinavian countries, Saturday is called Lördag or Löverdag etc., the name being derived from the old word laugr (hence Icelandic name Laugardagur), meaning bath, thus Lördag equates to bath-day. This is due to the Viking usage of bathing on Saturdays.

Today, Saturday is officially called Samstag in all German-speaking countries, however, there are two names for this day in modern Standard German. Samstag is always used in Austria, Liechtenstein, the German speaking part of Switzerland and generally used in southern and western Germany. It derives from Old High German sambaztac, which itself derives from Greek Σάββατο, and this Greek word derives from Hebrew שבת (Shabbat). However, the actual German word for sabbath is Sabbat. The second name for Saturday in German is Sonnabend, which derives from Old High German sunnunaband, and is closely related to the Old English word sunnanæfen. It means literally "The day before Sunday". Sonnabend is generally used in northern and eastern Germany, and was also the official name for Saturday in East Germany. In the Westphalian dialects of Low Saxon, in East Frisian Low Saxon and in the Frisian language, Saturday is called Satertag, which has the same linguistic roots like the English word Saturday.

Saturday is the usual day for elections in Australia and the only day in New Zealand on which elections can be held, and also the preferred election day in the US state of Louisiana.

The modern Maori name for it, Rahoroi, means "washing-day".

[edit] Saturday in popular culture

In the folk rhyme Monday's Child, "Saturday's Child has to work hard for a living".
Saturday was also the preferred day to hunt vampires as that was the day they had to remain in their coffins. It was also believed that someone born on a Saturday could see a vampire when it was invisible.^{[citation needed]}
Saturday morning is a notable television time block aimed at children while airing generally animated cartoons.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is a single-panel webcomic by Zach Weiner.
Saturday Night Fever was a popular 1977 movie showcasing New York discotheques.
Saturday Night Live is a famous TV skit-show that has aired from Saturday night to Sunday morning nearly every week on NBC since 1975.
"Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell" was a short-lived television program
Uptown Saturday Night is a film with Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, and Harry Belafonte
“Mr. Saturday Night is a film starring Billy Crystal
"The Saturday Evening Post"
Holy Saturday comes before Easter Sunday
Saturday (novel), a 2005 novel by Ian McEwan