Saturday
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- For Ian McEwan's 2005 novel, see Saturday (novel).
Saturday is the seventh (sixth in some countries) day of the week, between Friday and Sunday. It is the only day of the week to retain its Roman origin in English, named after the Roman god of time Saturn, calling it dies Saturni, "Saturn's Day". Many of the other days of the week adopted names of Saxon gods in Northern Europe, in Anglo-Saxon. There exists a possibility that the modern English form derives from Anglo-Saxon 'sater daegv'.
In India, Saturday is Shanivar. It is based on Shani, the Vedic God manifested in the planet Saturn.
By tradition derived from ancient Jews, Saturday is the last day of the week. That convention remains universally standard in the United States. In Europe, for several decades, many people have considered Saturday the sixth (penultimate) day of the week, and Sunday the last. This current European labour-orientated convention has been formalized by ISO 8601. However, the three monotheist religions are in agreement that Saturday is the last day of the week. In Islamic countries, Fridays are holidays, however they are considered as the sixth days of the week.
In many countries where Sundays are holidays, Saturday is part of the weekend, and is traditionally a day of relaxation. Many parties are held on Saturdays, because it precedes Sunday, another day of rest. It is common for clubs, bars and restaurants to be open later on Saturday night than on other nights.
Saturday is the usual day for elections in Australia and the only day in New Zealand on which elections can be held.
In ancient Jewish tradition Saturday is the sabbath. Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "sabbath". Eastern Orthodox churches distinguish between the sabbath (Saturday) and the Lord's day (Sunday). Roman Catholics put so little emphasis on that distinction that many among them follow – at least in colloquial language – the Protestant practice of calling Sunday the sabbath. Quakers traditionally refer to Saturday as "Seventh Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name.
In Scandinavian countries, Saturday is called Lördag or Löverdag etc., the name being derived from the old word laugr (hence Icelandic name Laugardagur), meaning bath, thus Lördag equates to bath-day. This due to the Viking usage of bathing on Saturdays.
The modern Maori name for it, Rahoroi, means "washing-day".
Saturday in popular culture
- Saturday was also the preferred day to hunt vampires as that was the day they had to remain in their coffins. It was also believed that someone born on a Saturday could see a vampire when it was invisible.
- Saturday morning is a notable television time block aimed at children while airing generally animated cartoons.
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