The Gods/Goddesses of the Weekdays

The Gods/Goddesses of the Weekdays

By: David Deschesne,

Editor/Publisher,

Fort Fairfield Journal October 14, 2015

The days of the week that we are all familiar with today have their origin in Teutonic, Norse, and Roman pagan mythology.

As the Elohim* created in the symbolic seven days of the Genesis Creation story, the days were not named. They were simply called “Day One,” “Day Two,” “Day Three,” etc. The seventh day is not numbered, but is called Shabbat (Sabbath). The ancient Hebrews continued this custom with their calendar and today the Jewish calendar continues the format. (*in the original Hebrew text, the plural word for gods, “elohim” is used in the Creation story but was arbitrarily translated monotheistically as a singular “God” in the later English translations of the Old Testament in order to comply with newly established church dogma).

There are very different opinions about the history of the extra-Biblical origin of the seven day week, and many authorities on the topic present their speculations as if they were indisputable facts. However, the data remains open to interpretation.

One explanation is that the seven-day week was established in the imperial calendar of the late Roman empire and furthered by the Christian church, which agrees with the first chapter of Genesis where the elohim created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, which became the Jewish day of rest, the Sabbath.

Outside of the Biblical narrative, other possible origins of the 7-day week are derived from Babylon, and Persia.

It is widely believed that pagan gods and goddesses began to be attached as names to the days of the week with the Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. The Julian Calendar was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect in 45 BC, shortly after the Roman conquest of Egypt and was the predominant calendar in the Roman world, most of Europe, and in European settlements in the Americas and elsewhere, until it was refined and gradually replaced by the Gregorian calendar, promulgated in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII.

The reason the Julian calendar was replaced was its tropical year was a few minutes shorter than 365.25 days and it did not compensate for this difference. As a result, the year was off by three days every four centuries compared to observed equinox times and the seasons. This discrepancy was corrected by the Gregorian reform of 1582.

The names of the days are derived from Teutonic, Norse, and Roman pagan deities. The early Romans, around the first century, used Saturday as the first day of the week. As the worshipping of the Sun increased, the Sun's day (Sunday) advanced from position of the second day to the first day of the week and Saturday became the seventh day.

Due to the discrepancies in what was considered the “first” day of the week, it is no longer clear whether or not the modern Sabbath (seventh day) is actually falling on the Biblical Sabbath as counted forward from the beginning of the Creation story.

The following list is of the days of the week with their Old English original names and a description of the god or goddess the day represents.

Sunday

Old English: sunnandæg

(Day of the Sun)

Ultimate translation of the Latin, diēs sōlis, “Day of the Sun.” Norse god, Sól also echoed in Japanese as Omikami Amaterasu; Hindu, goddess Aditi; Tantric Buddhism, Mari; and among the Arabs as the goddess, Atthar, sometimes called the “Torch of the Gods.”

The Celts referred to Sol as Sulis and the Germans, Sunna.

In Roman mythology, worship of Sol was introduced by Titus Tatius. In Virgil Sol is the grandfather of Latinus. Some writers suggest Sol be identified with the god Janus and had a counterpart, Jana, the moon. As such they were to be considered the highest of gods, receiving sacrifices before all other gods.

In Old Norse mythology, Sól was a goddess, sister of the personified moon, Máni. She is said to have given birth to two daughters prior to herself being killed by a monstrous wolf.

Monday

Old English: mōnan dæg

(The Moon’s Day)

Memorializes the moon goddess, Luna. Luna is often presented as the female counterpart of the Sun god, Sol. Luna is not always considered a distinct goddess but rather a nickname for various goddesses as Diana and Juno are also identified as moon goddesses. Her Greek pagan counterpart is Selene. In Roman art Luna is depicted as driving a two-yoke chariot drawn by either horses or oxen. Her symbol is the crescent, similar to the crescent symbol on the flags of many Islamic countries today.

Tuesday

Old English: Tiwesdæg

(The Day of Tiw)

Tiw is the Saxon God of War, identified with the planet, Mars. The Latin adaptation is Martis diēs—Day of Mars. Tiw was one of the oldest gods. Traced to the Indo-European Sky Father, Dyeus, Tiw has also been associated with the names, Dyaus, Zeus and Jove. In Sanskrit he was known as Dyaus pitar—”Father Heaven.” In old Norse mythology he was called Tyr and was associated with law and heroic glory within the context of a warrior. He was once considered the father of the gods but that title was taken over by Odin as that deity became more popular. Tiw/Tyr also accepted meat and blood as a sacrifice. The Romans called him Jupiter and the early Hebrews called him Yehovah (Jehovah).

Wednesday

Old English: Wōdnesdæg

(“Woden’s Day”)

Woden is the Saxon and Frankish name of the Norse god, Odin whom the Goths called Godan. As a conductor of souls, Woden was associated with the cult of the dead, who were formerly called “elves” in Scandinavia. Christians identified him with the devil because he was a fearful deity of death, like the Hindu, Yama, lord of death. Woden’s Norse counterpart, Odin was the All-Father, called “God of the Hanged” because of the trees of his sacred grove at Uppsala contained the bodies of hanged human sacrifices up until the 10th century. It is said each victim’s death recounted the death-rebirth of Odin, himself when he acquired his divine powers by giving himself up as a sacrifice on the World Tree, Yggdrasil and was wounded in the side by a spear. Interestingly, this story at once predates and loosely parallels the narrative of the Christian story of Jesus who was hung on a wooden cross as a voluntary sacrifice and was stabbed in his side by a spear while hanging there.

In Teutonic mythology Odin/Woden was the chief of the gods, the god of wisdom and war, the wisest of all beings, the all-seeing, all-knowing father-god. He was the son of the frost giant, Bor and giantess, Bestla and was considered the ruler of the universe.

Thursday

Old English: Thuresdæg

(Thunor’s Day)

Memorializes the god, Thunor. Known as Thor in Old Norse mythology. Thunor is the pagan god of Thunder, also associated with Jupiter. He is the son of Woden and the Giantess, Earth. He is half giant, imbued with the strength of Woden and the power of Earth. Thunor is also known as the god of marriage and a protector of humans. In Roman mythology he is known as Vulcan, the lightning or volcano god, derived from the Cretan Velchanos. Celtic mythology calls him, Sucellus.

Friday

Old English: Frigedæg

(“Frigg’s/Freya’s Day)

Named after the goddess, Frigg, a/k/a Freya or Frija. In Teutonic mythology, Freya primarily represented sexual love which is why her nickname, Frigg became a colloquialism for sexual intercourse. According to Teutonic mythology she is at once the daughter and ultimately the incestuous second wife of Odin (she married her father, Odin). Certain ancient poems state that Freya and Odin had seven sons who founded the seven Saxon kingdoms.

Friday—the Day of Freya—was considered unlucky by Christian monks. Despite opposition of the clergy, Germans persisted in believing that Freya’s sacred day was the luckiest day for weddings. Frigg/Freya had many attributes, being called Goddess of Fertility, love, the moon, the sea, the earth, the underworld, death, and birth. She was also referred to as Virgin, Mother, Ancestress and Queen of Heaven—all names associated with the Catholic matriarch, Mary, today. She was also called Ruler of Fate, of the Stars and of Magic. She was also known as Mistress of Cats. Most of the names were metaphors used in hymns composed in her honor.

Freya’s brother, Frey is also the God of Yule, a pagan festival on winter solstice later assimilated into the Christian “Christmas” by the early church.

Freya and her rival, Njord were collectively known as blood gods who fought and sacrificed each other over and over.

Saturday

Old English: Sæterdæg

(Saturn’s Day)

Named after the god, Saturn, the ancient Roman god of agriculture and harvest. Also associated with the Greek god, Cronus. Cronus was a primitive earth god associated with Great Mother Rhea and credited with her own destroyer function of devouring her own children.

Saturn is the Black Sun of Chaldean astrologers and Lord Death at the nadir of the underworld As Lord of Death, Saturn was both a god and a demon. He was the negative side of the summer sun, propitiated (sacrificed to) in mid-winter so he might allow Spring to come again. This important festival with its gift-giving and merrymaking during the Winter Solstice, December 21—25 became the Roman Saturnalia and contributed many of its customs and trappings to the Christian’s “Christmas” festival that occurs on December 25 every year.

Saturn gave his name to Saturday—the Hebrew Sabbath of the week’s end—and was identified with the seventh planetary sphere whose astrological influences partook of his qualities such as somberness, heaviness, darkness, passivity and coldness.

Saturn is thought to have been a king at the time of Janus. Saturn was also associated with the god Cronos for reasons that are no longer apparent.

Bibliography

1. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1958 ed.

2. Wikipedia online