Weekend Holidays

Have A Happy Weekend

Seven days in a week has been divided into two parts, workdays and weekend, the days of work and rest. We consider Saturday and Sunday as weekend. But according to the calendars, Sunday is not a weekend , it is a misnomer. Sunday is merely a holiday not weekend. Let us dig out more to find out, why weekend falls on certain days not on the other days!

     

Jews and Christians used to work together in the companies. Most of the Jews were the owner of the company and Christians were the managerial staffs. Christians asked for weekly one day holiday on Sunday to go to the Church. Sunday is the Sabbath day for Christians. The word Shabbat or Sabbath derives from the Hebrew verb shavat. Although frequently translated as "rest", another accurate translation of these words is "ceasing (from work)".

   

In Christian tradition, God created the Heaven and Earth in six days and rested on Sunday. Sunday is the "Lord's Day“, and the day of rest and worship. In this way, Sunday became holiday and accepted in various part of the world. Later Jews also necessitated for holiday on their Sabbath day to go to the Synagogue (a building in which Jewish people worship and study their religion). Jews Sabbath day fall on Saturday. On Sabbath, Jews recall the Genesis creation narrative, in which God creates the Heavens and the Earth in six days and rests on the seventh i.e. Saturday. In Islamic countries, they celebrate their Sabbath day on Friday and go to the Mosque. Friday became holiday (weekend) in Islamic countries.

   

In the companies, it was decided 48 working hours weekly; 8 hours per day, 6 days in a week. 24 hours in a day was divided equally in three parts; 8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep and 8 hours for family and relatives. Weekly one day holiday on Sunday was provided for religious and spiritual work. On demand of the Jews, Saturday was kept into consideration. It was also considered that there should not be much reduction in weekly work hours. The conclusion came with 45 weekly working hours per person instead of 48 hours, and declared half day holiday on Saturday. It did not stop here, Jews craved full day holiday on their Sabbath day. It was also concerned that there should not be any further reduction in weekly 45 working hours. Eventually, it got decided to give holiday on both Saturday and Sunday with increased one hour per day (9 working hours per day). Five working days per week with 9 hours per day. In this way, it served both the purposes.

    

In some companies, the working hours are 9.5 hours, 8 hours for work, 1 hour for lunch break and two times tea breaks, 15 minutes each. In 1926, Henry Ford began shutting down his automotive factories for all of Saturday and Sunday.

    

The ancient Vedic calendar, which pre-dates the Christian, Muslim and Jewish calendars, Sunday has always been the first day of the week with Saturday as the day of rest. Today only Nepal still follows this calendar workweek where the resting day is only Saturday. In Gregorian calendar (English Calendar), Saturday is the last day of the week, and Sunday is the first day of the week. In real manner, Saturday is the weekend not Sunday. In Islamic calendar (Hijri Calendar), Friday is the last day of the week and Saturday is the first day of the week. So, Islamic countries celebrate their weekend on Friday.  

In Hinduism, there is no concept of Sabbath day in particular; each day in a week is associated with some gods and goddesses. According to the flexibility, one can observe the worship.  

     

In future, in the world of globalization, we might enjoy three days holiday in a week to satisfy all three Sabbath day purpose.