Sunday

Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In the Jewish law it is the first day of the Hebrew calendar week. In many Christian traditions it is the Christian Sabbath, which replaced the Jewish Shabbat. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14335a.htm for Christians it began to take the place of the Jewish Sabbath in Apostolic times as the day set apart for the public and solemn worship of God. The practice of meeting together on the first day of the week for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice is indicated in Acts, xx 7; I Cor., xvi, 2; in Apoc., i, 10, it is called the Lord's day.] Sunday is considered the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_the_week#First_day_of_the_week first day of the week] in many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, although today some countries regard Sunday as the seventh day of the civil week. [For instance, the International Standard ISO 8601, which defines – among other things – the ISO week date. This Monday-to-Sunday week and week-numbering scheme is followed by most commercial calendars printed in Europe.]

Sunday is considered a non-working day in many countries of the world, and are part of "the weekend". Countries predominantly influenced by Jewish or Islamic religions have Friday or Saturday as a weekly non-working day instead.

The Gregorian calendar repeats every 400 years, and no century starts on a Sunday. The Jewish New Year never falls on a Sunday. Any month beginning on a Sunday will contain a Friday the 13th.

Etymology

The English noun "Sunday" derived sometime before 1250 from "sunedai", which itself developed from Old English (before 700) "Sunnandæg" (literally meaning "day of the sun"), which is cognate to other Germanic languages, including Old Frisian "sunnandei", Old Saxon "sunnundag", Middle Dutch "sonnendach" (modern Dutch "zondag"), Old High German "sunnun tag" (modern German "Sonntag"), and Old Norse "sunnudagr" (Danish and Norwegian "søndag", and Swedish "söndag"). The Germanic term is a Germanic interpretation of Latin "dies solis" ("day of the sun"), which is a translation of of Greek "heméra helíou".Barnhart (1995:778).]

In most of the Indian Languages, the word for Sunday is or Ravivar, Adivar and It'var, with "Adi" (Ah'-Dee) or "Ravi" being the Sanskrit names for the Sun.The first Christian reference to Sunday is found in the "First Apology" of St. Justin Martyr (c. 150 AD). In a well-known passage of the "Apology" (Chapter 67), Justin describes the Christian custom of gathering for worship on Sunday. "And on the day called Sunday [τῇ τοῦ ῾Ηλίου λεγομένη ἡμέρᾳ] , all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits . . .", he writes. Evidently Justin used the term "Sunday" because he was writing to a non-Christian, pagan audience. In Justin's time, Christians usually called Sunday the Lord's Day (because they observed it as a weekly memorial of Jesus Christ's resurrection). [). However, many Protestants and Roman Catholics do refer to Sunday as the Sabbath, though this is by no means a universal practice among Protestants and Catholics. Quakers traditionally refer to Sunday as "First Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the English name.

In Roman Catholicism liturgy, Sunday begins on Saturday evening. The evening Mass on Saturday is liturgically a full Sunday Mass and fulfils the obligation of Sunday Mass attendance, and Vespers (evening prayer) on Saturday night is liturgically 'first Vespers' of the Sunday. The same evening anticipation applies to other major solemnities and feasts, and is an echo of the Jewish practice of starting the new day at sunset (so that Sabbath starts on the Friday night).

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Sunday begins at the Little Entrance of Vespers (or All-Night Vigil) on Saturday evening and runs until "Vouchsafe, O Lord" (after the "prokeimenon") of Vespers on Sunday night. During this time, the dismissal at all services begin with the words, "May Christ our True God, who rose from the dead…". Anyone who wishes to receive Holy Communion at Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning is required to attend Vespers the night before (see Eucharistic discipline). Among Orthodox Christians, Sunday is considered to be a "Little Pascha" (Easter), and because of the Paschal joy, the making of prostrations is forbidden, except in certain circumstances. The Russian The word for Sunday is "Voskresenie", meaning "Resurrection day". In Greek the word for Sunday is "Kyriake" (the "Lord's Day").

The Polish word for Sunday ("niedziela") can be translated as "without acts (work)"

Common occurrences on Sunday

In the United States, professional American football is usually played on Sunday, although Saturday and Monday (via "Monday Night Football") also see some professional games. College football usually occurs on Saturday, and high-school football tends to take place on Friday night or Saturday afternoon.

In the United States and Canada, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League games, which are usually played at night during the week, are frequently played during daytime hours - often broadcast on national television. Major League Baseball usually schedules all Sunday games in the daytime except for the nationally televised Sunday Night Baseball matchup. Certain historically religious cities such as Boston and Baltimore among others will schedule games no earlier than 1:35 PM to ensure time for people who go to religious service in the morning can get to the game in time.

In the UK, some club and Premier League football matches and tournaments usually take place even Rugby matches and tournaments usually take place in club grounds or parks on Sunday mornings. It is not uncommon for church attendance to shift on days when a late morning or early afternoon game is anticipated by a local community.

Also in the United States, many federal government buildings are closed on Sunday. Privately owned businesses also tend to close or are open for shorter periods of the day than on other days of the week.

Many American, Australian and British television networks and stations also broadcast their political interview shows on Sunday mornings.

Many American and British daily newspapers publish a larger edition on Sundays, which often includes color comic strips, a magazine, and a coupon section.

Most NASCAR Sprint Cup, Indy Racing League and Champ Car events are held on Sundays. Formula One and MotoGP races are also held on Sundays with qualifying taking place on Saturday.

In Ireland, Gaelic football and hurling matches are predominantly played on Sundays, with the second and fourth Sundays in September always playing host to the All-Ireland hurling and football championship finals, respectively.

North American Radio stations often play specialty radio shows such as Casey Kasem's countdown or other nationally syndicated radio shows that may differ from their regular weekly music patterns on Sunday morning and/or Sunday evening.

Named days

*Easter Sunday is the most important day in the Christian calendar.
*Low Sunday, first Sunday after Easter, is also known as the Octave of Easter, White Sunday, Quasimodo Sunday, Alb Sunday, Antipascha Sunday, and Divine Mercy Sunday.
*Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter.
*Passion Sunday, formerly denoting the fifth Sunday of Lent; since 1970 the term applies to the following Sunday also known as Palm Sunday.
*Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sunday are the last three Sundays before Lent. "Quinquagesima" ("fiftieth"), is the fiftieth day before Easter, reckoning inclusively; but "Sexagesima" is not the sixtieth day and "Septuagesima" is not the seventieth but is the sixty-fourth day prior. The use of these terms was abandoned by the Catholic church in the 1970 calendar reforms (the Sundays before Lent are now simply "Sundays in ordinary time" with no special status). However, their use is still continued in Lutheran tradition: for example, "Septuagesimae".
*Stir-up Sunday is the last Sunday before Advent.
*Whitsunday "White Sunday" is the day of Pentecost.
*Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost.
*Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent.
*Laetare Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent.
*Good Shepherd Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Easter.
*Super Bowl Sunday
*Bloody Sunday
*Selection Sunday

See also

*Blue laws
*Black Sunday
*Cold Sunday
*Gloomy Sunday
*Palm Sunday
*Sol Invictus
*Surya
*Sunday shopping
*Sunday roast
*Sunday Christian
*Sunday school
*Sunday Morning
*Sunday (computer virus)
*Sunday League
*Sunday Island

Notes

References

* Barnhart, Robert K. (1995). "The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology". Harper Collins. ISBN 0062700847