DAYS OF THE WEEK.

"Name the day."

The division of time has been very ably and satisfactorily accounted for by several able writers, but they either totally neglect the derivation of their terms, or treat them in a slovenly manner. The days of the week have been particularly neglected; for, although some obscurity may envelope the origin of their cognomens, yet surely some light may be thrown on the matter. Sunday, the first day of the week, is said to derive its name from the Saxons, who consecrated it to the Sun in heathen times. It was not set apart as a day of cessation from labour before the reign of Constantine. By a decree of that Emperor (A.D. 321), public business and military exercises were suspended. The council of Laodicea (A.D. 360) forbade labour in general terms, and the laws of Theodosius (A.D. 420) sanctioned this interdiction by civil penalties.

Monday, the second day of the week, is so called and means literally the day of the moon.

Tuesday, the third day of the week, was named after Tuisco, the Saxon god of war, whence the astronomical symbol is the same as for the planet Mars.

Wednesday, the fourth day of the week, is named after Woden, a Saxon Deity, whose functions corresponded to those of Mercury in the Greek and Roman mythology; hence it was Wodensday, now corrupted into Wednesday.

Thursday, the fifth day of the week, is derived from another Saxon god, Thor; whom they supposed to preside over the elements, thunder, lightning, &c., and who corresponded to the Jupiter of the ancients, to whom this day was also consecrated, and from Thorsday came our denomination of Thursday.

Friday, the sixth day of the week, derives its name from Freya, or Friga, a Saxon goddess; this is termed the "unlucky day." Saturday, the seventh day of the week, and the Jewish sabbath, derives its name from the god Saturn, to whom it was dedicated by the Romans.

MAY DAY.

Our usages on this day retain the character of their ancient origin. The Romans commenced the festival of Flora on the 28th of April, and continued it through several days in May. Ovid records the mythological attributes and dedication of the season to that goddess:

"Fair Flora! now attend thy sportful feast,

Of which some days I with design have past;-
A part in April and a part in May

Thou claim'st, and both command my tuneful lay;

And as the confines of two months are thine,
To sing of both the double task be mine.
Circus and stage are open now and free--
Goddess! again thy feast my theme must be.
Since new opinions oft delusive are,
Do thou, O Flora, who thou art declare;
Why should thy poet on conjectures dwell?
Thy name and attributes thou best can tell.
Thus I-to which she ready answer made,
And rosy sweets attended what she said;
Though, now corrupted, Flora be my name,
From the Greek Chloris that corruption came:-
In fields where happy mortals whilome stray'd,
Chloris my name, I was a rural maid;

To praise herself a modest nymph will shun,
But yet a god was by my beauty won."

Flora then relates, that Zephyr became enamoured of her as Boreas had been, that "by just marriage to his bed" she was united to Zephyr, who assigned her the dominion over Spring, and that she strews the earth with flowers and presides over gardens. She further says, as the deity of flowers,—

"I also rule the plains.

When the crops flourish in the golden field;
The harvest will undoubted plenty yield;
If purple clusters flourish on the vine,
The presses will abound with racy wine;
The flowering olive makes a beauteous year,
And how can bloomless trees ripe apples bear?
The flower destroy'd, of vetches, beans, and peas,
You must expect but small or no increase;
The gift of honey's mine, the painful bees,
That gather sweets from flowers or blooming trees,
To scented shrubs and violets I invite,
In which I know they take the most delight;
A flower an emblem of young years is seen,
With all its leaves around it fresh and green;
So youth appears, when health the body sways,
And gladness in the mind luxuriant plays."

From these allegorical ascriptions the Roman people worshipped Flora, and celebrated her festivals by ceremonies and rejoicings, and offerings of spring flowers, and the branches of trees in bloom. The earliest notice of the celebration of May day may be traced to the Druids, who on May eve were accustomed to light large fires on eminences in gratitude and joy for the return of Spring. At a later period this day seems to have been observed by all classes. Chaucer in his Court of Love says, that on this day" forth goeth all the Court, most and least, to fetch the flowers fresh, and branch and bloom,” and it is well known that Henry VIII. and Katherine, and all their Court, partook in the diversion. The May-pole, which is still visible in many English villages, and Jack in the Green, are still relics of this custom.

MICHAELMAS DAY, &c.

The festival of St. Michael and all Angels has been celebrated with great solemnity by the Christian church ever since the fifth age, and was certainly kept sacred in Apulia as early as 493.

The dedication of the great church of Mount Gorgano, in Italy, to St. Michael, gave rise to the celebration of this feast in the West. It obtained the common name of Michaelmas; and the dedication of numerous churches at Rome, and other parts of Italy, subsequently took place on this day, a practice followed in other countries.

The churches dedicated to St. Michael are usually to be found on elevated spots, in allusion to this Saint's having been the highest of the heavenly host. St. Michael's Mount, in Cornwall, and that in Normandy, are confirmations of this remark.

Michaelmas-day is one of the regular quarter-days for settling rents; bnt it is no longer remarkable for the hospitality which once attended this anniversary. At Martinmas, the old quarterday, the landlords used formerly to entertain their tenants with geese, then only kept by opulent persons. But these birds being esteemed in perfection early in the autumn, most families now have a goose dressed on St. Michael's day; for

"At Michaelmas, by custom right divine,

Geese are ordain'd to bleed at Michael's shrine."

Very many inquiries have been made by antiquaries into the origin of "eating goose" on this festival, none of which, however, prove satisfactory, and, in our opinion, it had no particular meaning, except that stubble geese are now in perfection. People like to do things that are pleasant on holydays; and feasts, both among Polytheists and Christians, make up a great part of the miscellaneous customs attached to their calling. Geese are eaten likewise at Martinmas; and in Denmark, and other countries where they are later in being ready for the table, this is usually the time when they are in vogue. As matter, however, of antiquarian information, we shall cite the various explanations of this custom from different authors. It has been ascribed to the accidental circumstance of Queen Elizabeth's* being at dinner on a goose at the time she heard of the defeat of the Spanish armada, and that in consequence she ate of goose every year on that anniversary. In Gascoigne's Flowers we find,—

"And when the tenauntes come to paie their quarter's rent, They bring some fowle at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent; At Christmas a capon, at Michaelmas a goose;

And somewhat else at Newyere's tide, for feare their lease flie loose." A writer in The World, No. 10, probably Lord Orford, remarking on the effects of the alteration of the style, says, "When the * See Origin of Goose on Michaelmas Day.

reformation of the Calendar was in agitation, to the great disgust of many worthy persons, who urged how great the harmony was in the old establishment between the holidays and their attributes, and what confusion would follow if Michaelmas Day, for instance, was not to be celebrated when stubble geese are in their highest perfection; it was replied that such a propriety was mere imaginary, and would be lost of itself, even without any alteration of the Calendar by authority; for if in it the errors were suffered to go on, they would, in a certain number of years, produce such a variation, that we should be mourning for good King Charles on a false thirtieth of January, at a time of year when our ancestors used to be tumbling over head and heels in Greenwich Park, in honour of Whitsuntide; and at length be choosing king and queen for Twelfth Night, when we ought to be admiring the London 'Prentice at Bartholomew Fair."

It is a popular saying, that "if you eat goose on Michaelmas Day, you will never want money all the year round." In the British Apollo the proverb is thus discussed:

"Supposing now Apollo's sons,

Just rose from picking of goose bones,
This on you pops, pray tell me whence
The custom'd proverb did commence,
That who eats goose on Michael's Day,
Sha'n't money lack his debts to pay?
This notion, framed in days of yore,
Is grounded on a prudent score;
For, doubtless, 'twas at first design'd
To make the people Seasons mind;
That so they might apply their care
To all those things which needful were,
And, by a good industrious hand,

Know when and how t'improve their land."

ALL SAINTS' DAY.

This day is thus denominated in the Calendar, because it celebrates the commemoration of those worthies whom, on account of their number, particular days could not be appropriated to their individual honour.

ST. MARTIN'S LITTLE SUMMER.

In Time's Telescope for 1825, we are told that the few fine days which sometimes occur about the beginning of November, have been denominated "St. Martin's Little Summer:" to this Shakspeare alludes in the First Part of King Henry IV. (Act I. Scene 2nd), where Prince Henry says to Falstaff, "Farewell, thou latter spring! farewell, allhallewn summer!"-and in the First Part of King Henry VI. (Act I. Scene 2nd), Joan la Pucelle says,— Assign'd I am to be the English scourge, This night assuredly the siege I'll raise; Except St. Martin's Summer, halcyon days, Since I have enter'd thus into these wars."

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ALL SOULS.

A Romish festival, set apart to offer up prayers for souls in Purgatory.

ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST'S DAY.

Consecrated wine was anciently sold by the priests on the 27th of December, the festival of St. John the Evangelist, to prevent the effects of poison, storms, &c.; because St. John had been forced to drink poison.

LADY DAY.

The festival of the Annunciation is commonly called in England, Lady Day, an abridgment of the old term Our Lady's Day, or the day of our blessed Lady.

MAUNDY THURSDAY.

The term Maundy, as applied to the Thursday before Easter, has occasioned some trouble to antiquaries. One writer conceives Maundy to be corrupted from the Mandate of Christ to his disciples, to break bread in remembrance of him: or, from his other mandate, after he had washed their feet, to love one another.*

With better reason it is conceived to be derived from the Saxon word Mand, which afterwards became Maund, a name for basket, and subsequently for any gift or offering contained in the basket. Thus then Maundy Thursday, the day preceding Good Friday, on which the sovereign distributes alms to a certain number of poor persons at Whitehall, is so named from the Maunds in which the gifts were contained. According to Ducange, it derives its origin from St. Augustine.

CANDLEMAS DAY.

A Church festival held on the 2nd of February, to commemorate the purification of the Virgin Mary. The name probably arose from the number of lighted candles used in the processions of the day; or perhaps from a custom of consecrating candles on that day for the rest of the year. This practice was abolished in England in the second year of the reign of Edward VI.

It is to be noted, that from Candlemass the use of tapers at vespers and litanies, which prevailed throughout the winter, ceased until the ensuing All-Hallow-Mass; and hence the origin of an old English proverb in " Ray's Collection"

"On Candlemass day

Throw candle and candlestick away."

*Dunton's British Apollo.

† Archdeacon Nares' " Glossary," where the various authorities are set forth at large.