Every day we speak the names of the Pagan Gods and most people don't even know it.
In ancient Mesopotamia, astrologers named each day of the week after a Pagan God.
When the Romans started using the seven day week they used these names for their own gods. These were then used by the Germanic people who also adjusted the names according to their gods.
It is these Germanic and Norse gods that we use today in the days of the week.
Sunday, is the “Sun’s Day” – the name of a pagan Roman holiday.
Many societies have worshiped the sun and sun-gods. Perhaps the most famous is the Egyptian Sun-god Ra, who was the lord of time.
Monday comes from the Anglo-Saxon ‘monandaeg’ which is the “Moon’s Day”. On this day people gave homage to the goddess of the moon.
Tuesday is the first to be named after a Germanic god – Tiu (or Twia) – a god of war and the sky and associated with the Norse god Tyr, who was a defender god in Viking mythology.
Wednesday means “Woden’s Day” (in Norse, ‘Odin’), the Old Norse’s equivalent to Mercury, who was the messenger to the gods and the Roman god of commerce, travel and science.
Thursday was “Thor’s Day”, named after the Norse god of thunder and lightning and is the Old Norse equivalent to Jupiter. Thor is often depicted holding a giant hammer and during the 10th and 11th centuries when Christians tried to convert the Scandinavians, many wore emblems of Thor’s hammer as a symbol of defiance against the new religion.
Friday is associated with Freya, the wife of Woden and the Norse goddess of love, marriage and fertility, who is equivalent to Venus, the Roman goddess of love.
Saturday comes from “Saturn’s Day”, a Roman god associated with wealth, plenty and time. It is the only English week-day still associated with a Roman god, Saturn. Later on Emperor Constantine standardized the seven-day week across the Empire. Rome may initially have acquired the seven-day week from the mystical beliefs of Babylonian astrologers. But it was the created biblical story of creation with the Christian God making the Heavens and Earth and resting on the seventh day that will have led us to where we are currently.
