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Saturdays are not just about the arrival of weekend and some fun plans. Successful entrepreneurs work seven days a week. At least they say so in interviews.  Saturdays bring cheers as opposed to the dreaded Mondays. But, there are more interesting facts, both fun and historical, about Saturdays that are worth knowing.

Birthday of Vampire Hunters  

Traditionally, in olden days it was believed that Saturdays are the appropriated days to hunt down Vampires. Because, on Saturdays, they are restricted only to their coffins and are not allowed to get out. In the Balkans tradition, those who are born on Saturdays are entitled to become vampire hunters as they can see vampires but not by others. 

Swedish Saturday Candy

Children are allowed to have candies only on Saturdays, every week in Sweden. This is termed as Saturday Candy. The reason behind this practice of allowing children to have candies on Saturdays is to prevent tooth decays, yet it has a historical reason that was considered controversial in medical ethics.  Known as Vipeholm experiments, during 1945-55, mentally challenged people at the Vipeholm mental hospital in Lund, Sweden, are fed too much of sweets to study dental health. This was the result of an experiment sponsored by both the sugar industry personals and the doctor community to know if carbohydrates have a direct impact in the formation of dental cavities. 

The only weekly off in Nepal

Saturdays are the only official weekly holidays in Nepal and not Sundays. Also, it is the last day of the week in Nepal. Even though there is no factual information about how long this is in practice, it is said that for a century Nepal follows the one weekly holiday procedure. It is even said that the idea to improve efficiency by making both Saturdays and Sundays as offs didn’t work. Strange? Very! 

Election Day

In many countries, Saturday is the preferred day for election of public representatives. In Australia, elections are held usually on Saturdays and in New Zealand, Saturdays are the only days in which elections can be conducted. It is also preferred by the State of Louisiana, in the United States. 

Why the name Saturday?

The seven day week came into the practice of Roman Culture in 321 AD,  after originating in Mesopotamia. These seven days are based on the seven planets that were then believed to revolve around the Earth and thus control the events happening.  Saturday is named after the planet Saturn, which is the god of agriculture in Roman mythology. The astronomical symbol of the planet resembles the sickle carried by the god of agriculture. 

Saturday as the Seventh day

Abrahamic religions including Christianity, Islam, and Judaism consider Saturday as the seventh day of the week.  The calendar that we follow considers Saturday as the sixth day of the week and is the idea of the international standard ISO 8601 that was created to represent date and time in a seamless way.  Before the standard, there was a lot of confusion as the sequence of says differs to a great degree across various geographical locations of the world. 

The day of rest

As Genesis sums up the creation of world in seven days, it considers the seventh day, when God took rest after creating the whole universe during the previous six days. Thus the seventh day is considered to be a Sabbath or day of rest.  As religions consider Saturday as the seventh day, they also make it as a day of rest or worship, calling it as Sabbath. There is a lot of controversy around changing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, which just to mention and not go into the details, is the purpose of this article. 

Saturday is no day for controversy! Sit back, relax and chill!

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