Sunday
Encyclopedia
Sunday is the day of the week
between Saturday
and Monday
. For most Christians, Sunday is observed as a day for worship of God
and rest, due to the belief that it is Lord's Day
, the day of Christ's resurrection.
Sunday is a day of rest in most Western countries, part of 'the weekend'. In most Muslim countries, and Israel
, Sunday is a working day.
According to the Hebrew calendar
s, traditional Christian calendars, Sunday is literally the "first day" of the week. According to the International Organization for Standardization
ISO 8601
Sunday is the seventh and last day of the week.
No century
in the Gregorian calendar
starts on a Sunday, whether its first year is '00 or '01. The Jewish New Year never falls on a Sunday. (The rules of the Hebrew calendar are designed such that the first day of Rosh Hashanah
will never occur on the first, fourth, or sixth day of the Jewish week; i.e., Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday).
The English noun Sunday derived sometime before 1250 from sunedai, which itself developed from Old English (before 700) Sunnandæg (literally meaning "sun
's day"), which is cognate to other Germanic languages
, including Old Frisian
sunnandei, Old Saxon
sunnundag, Middle Dutch
sonnendach (modern Dutch
zondag), Old High German
sunnun tag (modern German
Sonntag), and Old Norse
sunnudagr (Danish
and Norwegian
søndag, and Swedish
söndag). The Germanic term is a Germanic interpretation
of Latin
dies solis ("day of the sun"), which is a translation of the Greek
heméra helíou.
The p-Celtic Welsh language
also translates the Latin "day of the sun" as dydd Sul.
In most Indic languages, the word for Sunday is Ravi-vāsara or Aditya-vāsara or it's derived forms — vāsara meaning day, Aditya and Ravi both being a style (manner of address)
for Surya
, the chief solar deity
and one of the Adityas. Ravi-vāsara is first day cited in Nakshtra Jyotish, which provides logical reason for giving the name of each week day. In the Thai solar calendar
of Thailand
, the name ("Waan Arthit") is derived from Aditya, and the associated color is red
.
In Russian
the word for Sunday is Воскресенье (Voskreseniye) which means "Resurrection". In other Slavic languages
the word means "no work", for example Polish: Niedziela, Belorussian: Нядзеля, Croatian: Nedjelja, Serbian: Nedelja, Czech: Neděle,Bulgarian: Неделя.
, the names of the days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday ("Δευτέρα, "Τρίτη,", "Τετάρτη," and "Πέμπτη") mean "second," "third", "fourth", and "fifth," respectively. This suggests that Sunday was once counted as "Πρώτη," that is, "first." The current Greek name for Sunday, Κυριακή (Kyriake), means "Lord's Day" coming from the word Κύριος (Kyrios), which is the Greek word for "Lord". Similarly in Vietnamese
, the working days in the week are named as: "Thứ Hai" (second day), "Thứ Ba" (third day), "Thứ Tư" (fourth day), "Thứ Năm" (fifth day), "Thứ Sáu" (sixth day), "Thứ Bảy" (seventh day). Sunday is called "Chủ Nhật," a corrupted form of "Chúa Nhật" meaning "Lord's Day." Some colloquial text in the south of Vietnam
and from the church may still use the old form to mean Sunday.
A similar system of naming days of the week occurs in Portuguese
. Monday is "segunda-feira," which means "second day," also showing Sunday ("domingo") to be counted as the first day. Modern Latin
uses "feria secunda" for Monday.
Slavic languages
implicitly number Monday as day number one, not two. For example, Polish
has "czwartek" (4th) for Thursday and "piątek" (5th) for Friday. Hungarian péntek (Friday) is a Slavic loanword
, so the correlation with "five" is not evident to Hungarians. Hungarians use Vasárnap for Sunday, which means "market day".
In the Maltese language
, due to its Siculo-Arabic
origin, Sunday is called "Il-Ħadd," a corruption of "wieħed" meaning "one." Monday is "It-Tnejn" meaning "two." Similarly Tuesday is "It-Tlieta" (three), Wednesday is "L-Erbgħa" (four) and Thursday is "Il-Ħamis" (five).
In Armenian
, Monday is (Erkushabti) literally meaning 2nd day of the week, Tuesday (Erekshabti) 3rd day, Wednesday (Chorekshabti) 4th day, Thursday (Hingshabti) 5th day. Saturday is (Shabat) coming from the word Sabbath or Shabbath in Hebrew, And "Kiraki" coming from the word "Krak" meaning "fire" is Sunday, "Krak" describing the sun by fire. Apostle John also refers to the "Lord's Day" (in Greek
, Κυριακή ημέρα, "kyriake hemera" i.e. the day of the Lord) in Rev. 1:10, which became the Armenian word for Sunday.
However, in many European countries calendars almost always show Monday as the first day of the week.
In Persian calendar Sunday is the second day of the week but they call it as number one and it's because the first day that is saturday counted as 00.
for Representation of dates and times states that Monday is the first day of the week.
, for whom "Shabbat
" is unquestionably on Saturday, nor for Muslim
s whose day of assembly (jumu'ah
) is on a Friday.
The first given evidence for a differentiation, between traditional Jewish "Shabbat" observance and the religious observance of the first day of the week, appears in Acts 20:7 where the disciples met and "broke bread" together. Some believe this was a participation in the ordinance of the sacrament. (In previous verses, the Days of Unleavened Bread had just ended, including Passover, so it could not have been the anniversary commemoration, but it could have been a communion service done in remembrance.) Seventh-day Sabbatarians say that the believers met on all days of the week to "break bread" together for the sake of meals and fellowship, such as in Acts 2:46, regarding the incident in Acts 20:7 as nothing outside of usual practice.
Col. 2:16 suggests that early Christians had been judged by others in their traditions of eating foods and in observance of particulars of Sabbath and festivals. Also, the Jews had defined "forty minus one" works to be abstained from on "Shabbat," and Jesus and his disciples had been accused of breaking some of these customs during his ministry.
The Apostle John also refers to the "Lord's Day
" ("kuriake hemera") in Rev. 1:10. "Kuriake," meaning "Lord's," later became the Greek word for Sunday. However, in light of the texts Mark 2:28 and Luke 6:5 it is seen that Jesus himself (as the Son of Man
) claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath
, and that day fell on the seventh day. Some early Christians observed Sabbath on Saturday, while others gathered for worship on Sunday. However, in AD 363 a seventh-day Sabbath was prohibited by Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea
.
The ancient Romans traditionally used the eight-day nundinal cycle, a market week, but in the time of Augustus
, the seven-day week also came into use. The two weeks were used side-by-side until at least the Calendar of 354 and probably later, despite the official adoption of Sunday as a day of rest by Constantine in AD 321. Mithraism
kept Sunday holy in honor of Mithras. On 7 March 321, Constantine I
, Rome's first Christian Emperor (see Constantine I and Christianity
), decreed that Sunday would be observed as the Roman day of rest:
Many Christians today consider Sunday a holy day and a day of rest and church-attendance. Denominations which observe Saturday as Sabbath are called "Sabbatarians", but the name "Sabbatarian" has also been claimed by Christians, especially Protestants, who believe Sunday must be observed with just the sort of rigorous abstinence from work associated with "Shabbat
". For most Christians the custom and obligation of Sunday rest is not as strict. A minority of Christians do not regard the day they attend church as important, so long as they attend, as the apostles and disciples gathered on Sundays, on Saturdays, and whenever they could. There is considerable variation in the observance of Sabbath rituals and restrictions, but some cessation of normal weekday activities is customary.
In Orthodox Christian
families and communities, working and requiring somebody else to work are prohibited, including buying goods or services, use of public transport
, gardening or driving or washing a car. Allowed exceptions include religious services, electricity, and urgent medical matters. In Roman Catholicism, those who work in the medical field, those in law enforcement, and soldiers in a war zone are dispensed from the usual obligation to avoid work on Sunday.
The majority of Christians observe Sunday as the Lord's day
. However, throughout the history of Christianity, some groups have continued or revived the observance of a Saturday Sabbath. More recently, Christians in the Seventh-day Adventist
, Seventh Day Baptist
, and Church of God (Seventh-Day) denominations, as well as many Messianic Jews have revived the practice of abstaining from work and gathering for worship on Saturdays.
Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "Sabbath." Eastern Orthodox
churches, as well as many Roman Catholics, distinguish between Sabbath (Saturday) and Sunday, which some Christians traditionally call the Lord's Day
. However, many Protestants and Roman Catholics do refer to Sunday as Sabbath, though this is by no means a universal practice among Protestants and Catholics. Quakers
traditionally refer to Sunday as "First Day" eschewing the pagan
origin of the English name, while referring to Saturday as the "Seventh day".
In Roman Catholic liturgy, Sunday begins on Saturday evening. The evening Mass on Saturday is liturgically a full Sunday Mass and fulfills the obligation of Sunday Mass attendance, and Vespers
(evening prayer) on Saturday night is liturgically "first Vespers" of the Sunday. The same evening anticipation applies to other major solemnities and feasts, and is an echo of the Jewish practice of starting the new day at sunset ("Shabbat" starts on Friday night).
In the Eastern Orthodox Church
, Sunday begins at the Little Entrance of Vespers (or All-Night Vigil
) on Saturday evening and runs until "Vouchsafe, O Lord" (after the "prokeimenon
") of Vespers on Sunday night. During this time, the dismissal
at all services begin with the words, "May Christ our True God, who rose from the dead ...." Anyone who wishes to receive Holy Communion at Divine Liturgy
on Sunday morning is required to attend Vespers the night before (see Eucharistic discipline
). Among Orthodox Christians, Sunday is considered to be a "Little Pascha
" (Easter), and because of the Paschal joy, the making of prostrations is forbidden, except in certain circumstances. The Russian word for Sunday is "Voskresenie," meaning "Resurrection day." The Greek word for Sunday is "Kyriake" (the "Lord's Day").
The Czech
, Polish
, Slovenian
, Croatian
, Serbian
, Ukrainian
and Belarusian
words for Sunday ("neděle," "niedziela," "nedelja," "недеља", "неділя" and "нядзеля" respectively) can be translated as "without acts (no work)."
are typically closed on both Saturdays and Sundays.
National and regional elections in Belgium
and Peru
are always on Sunday, because voting is mandatory.
s publish a larger edition on Sundays, which often includes color
comic strip
s, a magazine
, and a coupon
section; may only publish on a Sunday, or may have a "sister-paper" with a different masthead that only publishes on a Sunday.
North American Radio
stations often play specialty radio shows such as Casey Kasem
's countdown or other nationally syndicated radio shows that may differ from their regular weekly music patterns on Sunday morning and/or Sunday evening. In the United Kingdom
, there is a Sunday tradition of chart shows on BBC Radio 1
and commercial radio
; this originates in the broadcast of chart shows and other populist material on Sundays by Radio Luxembourg
when the Reithian
BBC
's Sunday output consisted largely of solemn and religious programmes.
Many American, Australian and British television networks and stations also broadcast their political interview shows
on Sunday mornings.
usually schedules all Sunday games in the daytime except for the nationally televised Sunday Night Baseball
matchup. Certain historically religious cities such as Boston
and Baltimore
among others will schedule games no earlier than 1:35 PM to ensure time for people who go to religious service in the morning can get to the game in time.
In the United States
, professional American football
is usually played on Sunday, although Saturday (via Saturday Night Football
), Monday (via Monday Night Football
), and Thursday (via Thursday Night Football
or Thanksgiving
) see some professional games. College
football usually occurs on Saturday, and high-school
football tends to take place on Friday night or Saturday afternoon.
In the UK, some club
and Premier League football matches and tournaments usually take place on Sundays. Rugby
matches and tournaments usually take place in club grounds or park
s on Sunday mornings. It is not uncommon for church attendance to shift on days when a late morning or early afternoon game is anticipated by a local community.
One of the remains of religious segregation in the Netherlands
is seen in amateur football
: The Saturday-clubs are by and large Protestant Christian clubs, who were not allowed to play on Sunday. The Sunday-clubs were in general Catholic and working class clubs, whose players had to work on Saturday and therefore could only play on Sunday.
In Ireland
, Gaelic football
and hurling
matches are predominantly played on Sundays, with the first (used to be second) and fourth (used to be third) Sundays in September always playing host to the All-Ireland hurling and football championship finals, respectively.
Professional golf tournaments traditionally end on Sunday.
In the United States and Canada
, National Basketball Association
and National Hockey League
games, which are usually played at night during the week, are frequently played during daytime hours - often broadcast on national television.
Most NASCAR Sprint Cup and IndyCar
events are held on Sundays. Formula One World Championship races are always held on Sundays regardless of timezone/country, while MotoGP holds most races on Sundays, with Middle Eastern races being the exception on Saturday. All Formula One events and MotoGP events with Sunday races involve qualifying taking place on Saturday.
Week
A week is a time unit equal to seven days.The English word week continues an Old English wice, ultimately from a Common Germanic , from a root "turn, move, change"...
between Saturday
Saturday
Saturday is the day of the week following Friday and preceding Sunday.Saturday is the last day of the week on many calendars and in conventions that consider the week as beginning on Sunday, or the sixth day of the week according to international standard ISO 8601 which was first published in...
and Monday
Monday
Monday is the day of the week between Sunday and Tuesday. According to international standard ISO 8601 it is the first day of the work week. According to the Islamic and Hebrew calendars, Sunday is the first day of the week...
. For most Christians, Sunday is observed as a day for worship of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
and rest, due to the belief that it is Lord's Day
Lord's Day
Lord's Day is a Christian name for Sunday, the day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament to have been witnessed alive from the dead early on the first day of...
, the day of Christ's resurrection.
Sunday is a day of rest in most Western countries, part of 'the weekend'. In most Muslim countries, and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Sunday is a working day.
According to the Hebrew calendar
Hebrew calendar
The Hebrew calendar , or Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances. It determines the dates for Jewish holidays and the appropriate public reading of Torah portions, yahrzeits , and daily Psalm reading, among many ceremonial uses...
s, traditional Christian calendars, Sunday is literally the "first day" of the week. According to the International Organization for Standardization
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
ISO 8601
ISO 8601
ISO 8601 Data elements and interchange formats – Information interchange – Representation of dates and times is an international standard covering the exchange of date and time-related data. It was issued by the International Organization for Standardization and was first published in 1988...
Sunday is the seventh and last day of the week.
No century
Century
A century is one hundred consecutive years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages .-Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar:...
in the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
starts on a Sunday, whether its first year is '00 or '01. The Jewish New Year never falls on a Sunday. (The rules of the Hebrew calendar are designed such that the first day of Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah , , is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora'im which occur in the autumn...
will never occur on the first, fourth, or sixth day of the Jewish week; i.e., Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday).
Etymology
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
's day"), which is cognate to other Germanic languages
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
, including Old Frisian
Old Frisian
Old Frisian is a West Germanic language spoken between the 8th and 16th centuries in the area between the Rhine and Weser on the European North Sea coast. The Frisian settlers on the coast of South Jutland also spoke Old Frisian but no medieval texts of this area are known...
sunnandei, Old Saxon
Old Saxon
Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is the earliest recorded form of Low German, documented from the 8th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German. It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany and in the Netherlands by Saxon peoples...
sunnundag, Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects which were spoken and written between 1150 and 1500...
sonnendach (modern Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
zondag), Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
sunnun tag (modern German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Sonntag), and Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
sunnudagr (Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
and Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
søndag, and Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
söndag). The Germanic term is a Germanic interpretation
Interpretatio graeca
Interpretatio graeca is a Latin term for the common tendency of ancient Greek writers to equate foreign divinities to members of their own pantheon. Herodotus, for example, refers to the ancient Egyptian gods Amon, Osiris and Ptah as "Zeus", "Dionysus" and "Hephaestus", respectively.-Roman...
of Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
dies solis ("day of the sun"), which is a translation of the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
heméra helíou.
The p-Celtic Welsh language
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
also translates the Latin "day of the sun" as dydd Sul.
In most Indic languages, the word for Sunday is Ravi-vāsara or Aditya-vāsara or it's derived forms — vāsara meaning day, Aditya and Ravi both being a style (manner of address)
Style (manner of address)
A style of office, or honorific, is a legal, official, or recognized title. A style, by tradition or law, precedes a reference to a person who holds a post or political office, and is sometimes used to refer to the office itself. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal...
for Surya
Surya
Surya Suraya or Phra Athit is the chief solar deity in Hinduism, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold...
, the chief solar deity
Solar deity
A solar deity is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms...
and one of the Adityas. Ravi-vāsara is first day cited in Nakshtra Jyotish, which provides logical reason for giving the name of each week day. In the Thai solar calendar
Thai solar calendar
The Thai solar calendar, Suriyakati was adopted by King Chulalongkorn in AD 1888 as the Siamese version of the Gregorian calendar. It is the legal calendar in Thailand, though Thai lunar calendar dates continue in use. Years are now counted in the Buddhist Era that is 543 years greater than...
of Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, the name ("Waan Arthit") is derived from Aditya, and the associated color is red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
.
In Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
the word for Sunday is Воскресенье (Voskreseniye) which means "Resurrection". In other Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
the word means "no work", for example Polish: Niedziela, Belorussian: Нядзеля, Croatian: Nedjelja, Serbian: Nedelja, Czech: Neděle,Bulgarian: Неделя.
Culture and languages
In the Judaeo and Christian, Sunday has been considered as the first day of the week. As a result, a number of languages appear to reflect Sunday's status as the first day of the week. In GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, the names of the days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday ("Δευτέρα, "Τρίτη,", "Τετάρτη," and "Πέμπτη") mean "second," "third", "fourth", and "fifth," respectively. This suggests that Sunday was once counted as "Πρώτη," that is, "first." The current Greek name for Sunday, Κυριακή (Kyriake), means "Lord's Day" coming from the word Κύριος (Kyrios), which is the Greek word for "Lord". Similarly in Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
, the working days in the week are named as: "Thứ Hai" (second day), "Thứ Ba" (third day), "Thứ Tư" (fourth day), "Thứ Năm" (fifth day), "Thứ Sáu" (sixth day), "Thứ Bảy" (seventh day). Sunday is called "Chủ Nhật," a corrupted form of "Chúa Nhật" meaning "Lord's Day." Some colloquial text in the south of Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and from the church may still use the old form to mean Sunday.
A similar system of naming days of the week occurs in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
. Monday is "segunda-feira," which means "second day," also showing Sunday ("domingo") to be counted as the first day. Modern Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
uses "feria secunda" for Monday.
Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
implicitly number Monday as day number one, not two. For example, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
has "czwartek" (4th) for Thursday and "piątek" (5th) for Friday. Hungarian péntek (Friday) is a Slavic loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
, so the correlation with "five" is not evident to Hungarians. Hungarians use Vasárnap for Sunday, which means "market day".
In the Maltese language
Maltese language
Maltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English,while also serving as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic...
, due to its Siculo-Arabic
Siculo-Arabic
Siculo-Arabic was a variety of Arabic spoken in Sicily and Malta between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries. It is extinct in Sicily, but it has developed into what is now the Maltese language on the islands of Malta....
origin, Sunday is called "Il-Ħadd," a corruption of "wieħed" meaning "one." Monday is "It-Tnejn" meaning "two." Similarly Tuesday is "It-Tlieta" (three), Wednesday is "L-Erbgħa" (four) and Thursday is "Il-Ħamis" (five).
In Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
, Monday is (Erkushabti) literally meaning 2nd day of the week, Tuesday (Erekshabti) 3rd day, Wednesday (Chorekshabti) 4th day, Thursday (Hingshabti) 5th day. Saturday is (Shabat) coming from the word Sabbath or Shabbath in Hebrew, And "Kiraki" coming from the word "Krak" meaning "fire" is Sunday, "Krak" describing the sun by fire. Apostle John also refers to the "Lord's Day" (in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, Κυριακή ημέρα, "kyriake hemera" i.e. the day of the Lord) in Rev. 1:10, which became the Armenian word for Sunday.
However, in many European countries calendars almost always show Monday as the first day of the week.
In Persian calendar Sunday is the second day of the week but they call it as number one and it's because the first day that is saturday counted as 00.
ISO 8601
The international standard ISO 8601ISO 8601
ISO 8601 Data elements and interchange formats – Information interchange – Representation of dates and times is an international standard covering the exchange of date and time-related data. It was issued by the International Organization for Standardization and was first published in 1988...
for Representation of dates and times states that Monday is the first day of the week.
Sunday and Sabbath
Christians from very early times have had differences of opinion on the question of whether Sabbath should be observed on a Saturday or a Sunday. The issue does not arise for JewsJews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, for whom "Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
" is unquestionably on Saturday, nor for Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s whose day of assembly (jumu'ah
Jumu'ah
Jumu'ah is a congregational prayer that Muslims hold every Friday, just after noon in lieu of dhuhr...
) is on a Friday.
The first given evidence for a differentiation, between traditional Jewish "Shabbat" observance and the religious observance of the first day of the week, appears in Acts 20:7 where the disciples met and "broke bread" together. Some believe this was a participation in the ordinance of the sacrament. (In previous verses, the Days of Unleavened Bread had just ended, including Passover, so it could not have been the anniversary commemoration, but it could have been a communion service done in remembrance.) Seventh-day Sabbatarians say that the believers met on all days of the week to "break bread" together for the sake of meals and fellowship, such as in Acts 2:46, regarding the incident in Acts 20:7 as nothing outside of usual practice.
Col. 2:16 suggests that early Christians had been judged by others in their traditions of eating foods and in observance of particulars of Sabbath and festivals. Also, the Jews had defined "forty minus one" works to be abstained from on "Shabbat," and Jesus and his disciples had been accused of breaking some of these customs during his ministry.
The Apostle John also refers to the "Lord's Day
Lord's Day
Lord's Day is a Christian name for Sunday, the day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament to have been witnessed alive from the dead early on the first day of...
" ("kuriake hemera") in Rev. 1:10. "Kuriake," meaning "Lord's," later became the Greek word for Sunday. However, in light of the texts Mark 2:28 and Luke 6:5 it is seen that Jesus himself (as the Son of Man
Son of man
The phrase son of man is a primarily Semitic idiom that originated in Ancient Mesopotamia, used to denote humanity or self. The phrase is also used in Judaism and Christianity. The phrase used in the Greek, translated as Son of man is ὁ υἱὸς τοὺ ἀνθρώπου...
) claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath
Lord of the Sabbath
The Lord of the Sabbath is an episode in the life of Jesus that appears in all three Synoptic Gospels, , and . It relates an encounter between Jesus, his Apostles and the Pharisees and is the first of the "four Sabbath controversies"....
, and that day fell on the seventh day. Some early Christians observed Sabbath on Saturday, while others gathered for worship on Sunday. However, in AD 363 a seventh-day Sabbath was prohibited by Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea
Council of Laodicea
The Council of Laodicea was a regional synod of approximately thirty clerics from Asia Minor that assembled about 363–364 AD in Laodicea, Phrygia Pacatiana.-Historical context:...
.
The ancient Romans traditionally used the eight-day nundinal cycle, a market week, but in the time of Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
, the seven-day week also came into use. The two weeks were used side-by-side until at least the Calendar of 354 and probably later, despite the official adoption of Sunday as a day of rest by Constantine in AD 321. Mithraism
Mithraism
The Mithraic Mysteries were a mystery religion practised in the Roman Empire from about the 1st to 4th centuries AD. The name of the Persian god Mithra, adapted into Greek as Mithras, was linked to a new and distinctive imagery...
kept Sunday holy in honor of Mithras. On 7 March 321, Constantine I
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
, Rome's first Christian Emperor (see Constantine I and Christianity
Constantine I and Christianity
During the reign of the Emperor Constantine the Great, Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Constantine, also known as Constantine I, had a significant religious experience following his victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312...
), decreed that Sunday would be observed as the Roman day of rest:
Many Christians today consider Sunday a holy day and a day of rest and church-attendance. Denominations which observe Saturday as Sabbath are called "Sabbatarians", but the name "Sabbatarian" has also been claimed by Christians, especially Protestants, who believe Sunday must be observed with just the sort of rigorous abstinence from work associated with "Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
". For most Christians the custom and obligation of Sunday rest is not as strict. A minority of Christians do not regard the day they attend church as important, so long as they attend, as the apostles and disciples gathered on Sundays, on Saturdays, and whenever they could. There is considerable variation in the observance of Sabbath rituals and restrictions, but some cessation of normal weekday activities is customary.
In Orthodox Christian
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
families and communities, working and requiring somebody else to work are prohibited, including buying goods or services, use of public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
, gardening or driving or washing a car. Allowed exceptions include religious services, electricity, and urgent medical matters. In Roman Catholicism, those who work in the medical field, those in law enforcement, and soldiers in a war zone are dispensed from the usual obligation to avoid work on Sunday.
The majority of Christians observe Sunday as the Lord's day
Lord's Day
Lord's Day is a Christian name for Sunday, the day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament to have been witnessed alive from the dead early on the first day of...
. However, throughout the history of Christianity, some groups have continued or revived the observance of a Saturday Sabbath. More recently, Christians in the Seventh-day Adventist
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
, Seventh Day Baptist
Seventh Day Baptist
Seventh Day Baptists are Christian Baptists who observe Sabbath on the seventh-day of the week in accord with their understanding of the Biblical Sabbath for the Judeo-Christian tradition...
, and Church of God (Seventh-Day) denominations, as well as many Messianic Jews have revived the practice of abstaining from work and gathering for worship on Saturdays.
Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "Sabbath." Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
churches, as well as many Roman Catholics, distinguish between Sabbath (Saturday) and Sunday, which some Christians traditionally call the Lord's Day
Lord's Day
Lord's Day is a Christian name for Sunday, the day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament to have been witnessed alive from the dead early on the first day of...
. However, many Protestants and Roman Catholics do refer to Sunday as Sabbath, though this is by no means a universal practice among Protestants and Catholics. Quakers
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
traditionally refer to Sunday as "First Day" eschewing the pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
origin of the English name, while referring to Saturday as the "Seventh day".
In Roman Catholic liturgy, Sunday begins on Saturday evening. The evening Mass on Saturday is liturgically a full Sunday Mass and fulfills the obligation of Sunday Mass attendance, and Vespers
Vespers
Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Western Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran liturgies of the canonical hours...
(evening prayer) on Saturday night is liturgically "first Vespers" of the Sunday. The same evening anticipation applies to other major solemnities and feasts, and is an echo of the Jewish practice of starting the new day at sunset ("Shabbat" starts on Friday night).
In the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
, Sunday begins at the Little Entrance of Vespers (or All-Night Vigil
All-Night Vigil
The All-Night Vigil , Opus 37, is an a cappella choral composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff,written and premiered in 1915. It consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox All-night vigil ceremony. It has been praised as Rachmaninoff's finest achievement and "the greatest musical...
) on Saturday evening and runs until "Vouchsafe, O Lord" (after the "prokeimenon
Prokeimenon
In the liturgical practice of the Orthodox Church, a Prokeimenon is a psalm or canticle refrain sung responsorially at certain specified points of the Divine Liturgy or the Divine Office, usually to introduce a scripture reading...
") of Vespers on Sunday night. During this time, the dismissal
Dismissal (liturgy)
The Dismissal is the final blessing said by a Christian priest or minister at the end of a religious service. In liturgical churches the dismissal will often take the form of ritualized words and gestures, such as raising the minister's hands over the congregation, or blessing with the sign of the...
at all services begin with the words, "May Christ our True God, who rose from the dead ...." Anyone who wishes to receive Holy Communion at Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, use the same term...
on Sunday morning is required to attend Vespers the night before (see Eucharistic discipline
Eucharistic discipline
Eucharistic discipline is the term applied to the regulations and practices associated with an individual preparing for the reception of the Eucharist...
). Among Orthodox Christians, Sunday is considered to be a "Little Pascha
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
" (Easter), and because of the Paschal joy, the making of prostrations is forbidden, except in certain circumstances. The Russian word for Sunday is "Voskresenie," meaning "Resurrection day." The Greek word for Sunday is "Kyriake" (the "Lord's Day").
The Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, Slovenian
Slovenian language
Slovene or Slovenian is a South Slavic language spoken by approximately 2.5 million speakers worldwide, the majority of whom live in Slovenia. It is the first language of about 1.85 million people and is one of the 23 official and working languages of the European Union...
, Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
and Belarusian
Belarusian language
The Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
words for Sunday ("neděle," "niedziela," "nedelja," "недеља", "неділя" and "нядзеля" respectively) can be translated as "without acts (no work)."
In government and business
In the United States and Canada, many government buildings are closed on Sunday, with a lesser number being closed on Saturday as well. Privately owned businesses also tend to close or are open for shorter periods of the day on Sunday than on other days of the week. Non-retail offices such as corporate headquartersHeadquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
are typically closed on both Saturdays and Sundays.
National and regional elections in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
are always on Sunday, because voting is mandatory.
In media
Many American and British daily newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s publish a larger edition on Sundays, which often includes color
Color
Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s, a magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, and a coupon
Coupon
In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in retail stores as a part of sales promotions...
section; may only publish on a Sunday, or may have a "sister-paper" with a different masthead that only publishes on a Sunday.
North American Radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
stations often play specialty radio shows such as Casey Kasem
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem is an American radio personality and voice actor who is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown show American Top 40, and for voicing Shaggy in the popular Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.Kasem, along with Don Bustany and...
's countdown or other nationally syndicated radio shows that may differ from their regular weekly music patterns on Sunday morning and/or Sunday evening. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, there is a Sunday tradition of chart shows on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
and commercial radio
Independent Local Radio
Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. The same name is used for Independent Local Radio in Ireland.-Development of ILR:...
; this originates in the broadcast of chart shows and other populist material on Sundays by Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
when the Reithian
John Reith, 1st Baron Reith
John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith, KT, GCVO, GBE, CB, TD, PC was a Scottish broadcasting executive who established the tradition of independent public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom...
BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Sunday output consisted largely of solemn and religious programmes.
Many American, Australian and British television networks and stations also broadcast their political interview shows
Sunday-morning interview shows
The Sunday morning talk shows are television talk/public affairs programs broadcast on Sunday mornings. Often featuring national leaders in politics and public life as guests, this type of program originated in the United States, and has since been used in other countries.-United States:In the...
on Sunday mornings.
In sports
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
usually schedules all Sunday games in the daytime except for the nationally televised Sunday Night Baseball
Sunday Night Baseball
Sunday Night Baseball is the Major League Baseball exclusive game of the week that is televised Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN during the regular season...
matchup. Certain historically religious cities such as Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
among others will schedule games no earlier than 1:35 PM to ensure time for people who go to religious service in the morning can get to the game in time.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, professional American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
is usually played on Sunday, although Saturday (via Saturday Night Football
Run to the Playoffs
Thursday Night Football is the brand name used by NFL Network for its schedule of live regular season telecasts of National Football League games on Thursday nights. Also included in the package are some Saturday specials....
), Monday (via Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
), and Thursday (via Thursday Night Football
Run to the Playoffs
Thursday Night Football is the brand name used by NFL Network for its schedule of live regular season telecasts of National Football League games on Thursday nights. Also included in the package are some Saturday specials....
or Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
) see some professional games. College
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
football usually occurs on Saturday, and high-school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
football tends to take place on Friday night or Saturday afternoon.
In the UK, some club
Club
A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.- History...
and Premier League football matches and tournaments usually take place on Sundays. Rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
matches and tournaments usually take place in club grounds or park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
s on Sunday mornings. It is not uncommon for church attendance to shift on days when a late morning or early afternoon game is anticipated by a local community.
One of the remains of religious segregation in the Netherlands
Pillarisation
Pillarisation is a term used to describe the politico-denominational segregation of Dutch and Belgian society. These societies were "vertically" divided into several segments or "pillars" according to different religions or ideologies.These pillars all had their own social institutions: their own...
is seen in amateur football
Hoofdklasse
The Hoofdklasse is the 2nd highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fourth tier in general.-Background:The league is divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunday. This is a result of the traditional pillarisation , the segregation of Dutch society. The Saturday-clubs are by...
: The Saturday-clubs are by and large Protestant Christian clubs, who were not allowed to play on Sunday. The Sunday-clubs were in general Catholic and working class clubs, whose players had to work on Saturday and therefore could only play on Sunday.
In Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Gaelic football
Gaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
and hurling
Hurling
Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...
matches are predominantly played on Sundays, with the first (used to be second) and fourth (used to be third) Sundays in September always playing host to the All-Ireland hurling and football championship finals, respectively.
Professional golf tournaments traditionally end on Sunday.
In the United States and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
and National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
games, which are usually played at night during the week, are frequently played during daytime hours - often broadcast on national television.
Most NASCAR Sprint Cup and IndyCar
IndyCar Series
The IZOD IndyCar Series is the premier level of American open wheel racing. The current championship, founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, began in 1996 as a competitor to CART known as the Indy Racing League . Citing CART's increasing reliance on expensive machinery and...
events are held on Sundays. Formula One World Championship races are always held on Sundays regardless of timezone/country, while MotoGP holds most races on Sundays, with Middle Eastern races being the exception on Saturday. All Formula One events and MotoGP events with Sunday races involve qualifying taking place on Saturday.
Named days
- Black Sunday
- Bloody Sunday
- Cold SundayCold Sunday"Cold Sunday" was a meteorological event which took place on January 17, 1982, when unprecedentedly cold air swept down from Canada and plunged temperatures across much of the United States far below existing all-time record lows....
- Easter Sunday represents the resurrection of Christ for many Christians.
- Gaudete SundayGaudete SundayGaudete Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent in the liturgical calendar of the Western Church, including the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Churches, and some liturgical Protestant churches...
is the third Sunday of AdventAdventAdvent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
. - Gloomy SundayGloomy Sunday"Gloomy Sunday" is a song composed by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress and published in 1933, as "Vége a világnak" . Lyrics were written by László Jávor, and in his version the song was retitled "Szomorú vasárnap"...
- Good Shepherd SundayGood Shepherd SundayGood Shepherd Sunday is the Fourth Sunday of Easter in the new Catholic liturgical calendar; that is, the Sunday three weeks after Easter Sunday. The name derives from the gospel readings on this day which are taken from the 10th chapter of John. In this reading Christ is described as the Good...
is the fourth Sunday of Easter. - Laetare SundayLaetare SundayLaetare Sunday , so called from the incipit of the Introit at Mass, "Laetare Jerusalem" , is a name often used to denote the fourth Sunday of the season of Lent in the Christian liturgical calendar...
is the fourth Sunday of LentLentIn the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
. - Low SundayOctave of EasterThe term Octave of Easter may refer either to the eight day period from Easter Sunday until the Sunday following Easter, inclusive; or it may refer only to that Sunday after Easter, the Octave Day of Easter . That Sunday is also known historically as St...
, first Sunday after Easter, is also known as the Octave of Easter, White Sunday, Quasimodo Sunday, Alb Sunday, Antipascha Sunday, and Divine Mercy SundayDivine Mercy SundayDivine Mercy Sunday is a Roman Catholic solemnity celebrated the Sunday after Easter. It is based on the Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy due to Saint Faustina Kowalska, and is associated with specific indulgences.-Background:...
. - Palm SundayPalm SundayPalm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....
is the Sunday before Easter. - Passion SundayPassion SundayPassion Sunday is a name that the Roman Rite liturgy gives to the sixth Sunday of Lent, but that in the pre-1960 form of that liturgy was given to the fifth Sunday...
, formerly denoting the fifth Sunday of LentLentIn the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
; since 1970 the term applies to the following Sunday also known as Palm SundayPalm SundayPalm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....
. - Selection Sunday
- SeptuagesimaSeptuagesimaSeptuagesima is the name for the ninth Sunday before Easter, the third before Ash Wednesday. The term is sometimes applied also to the period that begins on this day and ends on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins. This period is also known as the pre-Lenten season or...
, SexagesimaSexagesimaSexagesima , or, in full, Sexagesima Sunday, is the name for the second Sunday before Ash Wednesday in the Gregorian Rite liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, and also in that of some Protestant denominations, particularly those with Anglican and Lutheran origins.The name "Sexagesima"...
and QuinquagesimaQuinquagesimaQuinquagesima is the name used in the Western Church for the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. It was also called Quinquagesima Sunday, Quinquagesimae, Estomihi, or Shrove Sunday...
Sunday are the last three Sundays before LentLentIn the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
. Quinquagesima ("fiftieth"), is the fiftieth day before Easter, reckoning inclusively; but Sexagesima is not the sixtieth day and Septuagesima is not the seventieth but is the sixty-fourth day prior. The use of these terms was abandoned by the Catholic Church in the 1970 calendar reforms (the Sundays before Lent are now simply "Sundays in ordinary time" with no special status). However, their use is still continued in Lutheran tradition: for example, "Septuagesimae". - ShavuotShavuotThe festival of is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan ....
is the Jewish Pentecost, or 'Festival of Weeks'. For Karaite Jews it always falls on a Sunday. - Stir-up SundayStir-up SundayStir-up Sunday is an informal term in Anglican churches for the last Sunday before the season of Advent.The term comes from the opening words of the collect for the day in the Book of Common Prayer of 1549 and later :In the Book of Common Prayer of 1662 and later, this collect is listed for "The...
is the last Sunday before AdventAdventAdvent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
. - Super Bowl SundaySuper BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
- Trinity SundayTrinity SundayTrinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity...
is the first Sunday after PentecostPentecostPentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
. - WhitsunWhitsunWhitsun is the name used in the UK for the Christian festival of Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's disciples...
day "White Sunday" is the day of PentecostPentecostPentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
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See also
- Blue lawBlue lawA blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States and, formerly, in Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping...
s - Sol InvictusSol InvictusSol Invictus was the official sun god of the later Roman empire. In 274 Aurelian made it an official cult alongside the traditional Roman cults. Scholars disagree whether the new deity was a refoundation of the ancient Latin cult of Sol, a revival of the cult of Elagabalus or completely new...
- Sunday (computer virus)Sunday (computer virus)Sunday is a computer virus, a member of the Jerusalem virus family. It was discovered in November 1989 after a number of simultaneous reports from Seattle, Washington, United States, and surrounding areas. Several other Seattle outbreaks, including AirCop, were later traced to...
- Sunday ChristianSunday ChristianA Sunday Christian or Sunday morning Christian is a derisive term used to refer to someone who typically attends Christian church services on Sundays while not strictly adhering to the doctrines or rules of the religion....
- Sunday Island
- Sunday league footballSunday league footballSunday league football is a term used in the United Kingdom to describe those association football leagues which play on Sunday, as opposed to the more usual Saturday. These leagues tend to be lower standard amateur competitions, whose players may have less ability, or less time to devote to...
- Sunday Morning
- Sunday roastSunday roastThe Sunday roast is a traditional British main meal served on Sundays , consisting of roasted meat, roast potato or mashed potato, with accompaniments such as Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, vegetables and gravy....
- Sunday schoolSunday schoolSunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
- Sunday shoppingSunday shoppingSunday shopping refers to the ability of retailers to operate stores on Sunday, a day that Christian tradition typically recognizes as the Sabbath, a "day of rest". Rules governing shopping hours, such as Sunday shopping, vary around the world but some European nations continue to ban Sunday shopping...
- SuryaSuryaSurya Suraya or Phra Athit is the chief solar deity in Hinduism, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold...
- St. Kyriake