Wednesday ... from the Old English meaning "Woden's Day." It's a reference to the Germanic god, Woden, the equivalent of the Norse god, Odin, associated with wisdom, knowledge, and wandering. It's the fourth day of the week in most places, the third day of the ISO international standard calendar, and called "hump day" in many circles because it's the middle of the week and feels like you're on your way to the weekend now.
In Christian tradition, the Wednesday of Holy Week is "Spy Wednesday," commemorating Judas's decision to betray Jesus, a day of fasting and penitence. In Judaism, it's the day God created the sun, moon, and stars (Gen 1:14-19). It represents order and time, cosmic structure, and God's sovereignty over seasons and cycles.
"Wednesday," as "Woden's Day," has no significance to us except as a place marker. It lies midway between Sunday and the Sabbath, the God-given week (not in naming of the days, but as in the seven-day week). The Romans named the days after the visible bodies in the sky, named for their gods--Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn. The Germanic people adopted the names, but substituted their own terms for Mars (Tiw/Tyr - war god), Mercury (Woden/Odin - wisdom, travel), Jupiter (Thor - god of thunder), and Venus (Frigg/Freya - goddess of love and beauty). Other languages often use numbers (e.g. "first day of the week," etc.), but the Christians ignored the meaning of the names and kept them as markers. The primary reasoning was Paul's reasoning--other "gods" aren't real, so they don't matter (1 Cor 8:4-6). (Greek Orthodox tradition did change the names ... some numbers, but some with significance.)
Just a little light trivia, I guess. It's Wednesday, today. "This is the day YHWH has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psa 118:24). I'm okay with that.
3 comments:
Evidently, today, April 8, is “National Empanada Day,” “National Zoo Lovers Day,” and “National Draw a Bird Day”--plus we’re halfway through “Be Kind to Spiders Week.” I’ve never eaten an empanada, I do love visiting zoos, and I can draw birds fairly well--if they stay still long enough :). (I’m holding my ground on spiders, though!) Yes, this is a perfect day to rejoice in the Lord and be “glad in it”!
It's interesting with all the "control" the church had that made all these holidays people are so upset about, the church failed to control the weekday names.
Except, of course, the Greek Orthodox Church. :)
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