Thursday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thursday, by international standard, is the fourth day of the week, falling between Wednesday and Friday. In countries that adopt a Sunday-first convention, it is commonly considered the fifth day of the week. (see Days of the week for more on the different conventions.)

The name Thursday comes from the Old English _unresdæg, meaning the day of _unor, commonly known in Modern English as Thor, the Germanic god of thunder. Thor replaced the Roman god of thunder, Jupiter, as the namesake of the fourth day of the week after the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Roman Britain.

By some conventions (see ISO 8601), the Thursdays of a year determine the week numbering: week 1 is defined as the week that contains the first Thursday of the year, and so on.

Astrology

In French, Thursday is "Jeudi" and in Spanish, "Jueves", a surviving connection between the day and the astrological energies of Jupiter. This connection links Thursday to business but also to jollity and humour.

Note: Most linguists accord to say that "Jeudi" actually doesn't refer to the planet Jupiter: in French, the name of each day of the week corresponds to a Latin god, except Dimanche (Sunday). Jeudi is the day of Jupiter, god of the thunder, equivalent to Thor or Zeus.

Thursday in Religion

In the Hindu religion, Thursday is guruvar or the Guru's day.
Quakers traditionally refer to Thursday as "Fifth Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the name "Thursday".

In the Christian tradition, Holy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter - the day on which the Last Supper occurred.

In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is an annual holiday celebrated on a Thursday in November, currently the fourth Thursday.

Thursday in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, all general elections since 1935 have been held on a Thursday, and this has become a tradition, although not a requirement of the law – which only states that an election may be held on any day "except Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, bank holidays in any part of the United Kingdom and any day appointed for public thanksgiving and mourning". An explanation sometimes given for the choice of Thursday as polling day is that it was, in most towns, the traditional market day, although it has also been observed that the choice has practical advantages – with the outcome of the election being known by Friday, the new or continuing administration then has the weekend to organize itself in preparation for the "government shop opening for business" on Monday, the first day of the new week following the election.

Additionally, local elections are usually held on the first Thursday in May.

The Thursday before Easter is also known as Maundy Thursday or Sheer Thursday in the United Kingdom, traditionally a day of cleaning and giving out Maundy money.

Thursday in Popular Culture

In the popular rhyme, "Thursday's Child has far to go".

Gabriel Syme, the main character was given the title of Thursday in G. K. Chesterton's novel "The Man Who Was Thursday."

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the character Arthur Dent says "This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays". A few minutes later the planet Earth is destroyed. Thor, for whom the day was named, also appears later in the Hitchhiker's series and in other Adams books.

Thursday is commonly humorously referred to as "Friday Eve" in anticipation for the end of the work week on Friday.

Named Days

Black Thursday refers to October 24, 1929 when stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange fell sharply, with record volume of nearly 13 million shares. Five days later, the market crashed on volume of over 16 million shares - a level not to be surpassed for 39 years. In popular imagery, the crash has come to mark the beginning of the Great Depression.