Saturday

-----------oOo-----------

Wondering what to post this fine Saturday, the thought came that I would post some random items about . . . Saturday.

-----------oOo-----------

Saturday is named after the Roman god and planet Saturn and is the only day of the week that retained its Roman origin in English. Saturn is the Roman god of agriculture. He is believed to have ruled Earth during an age of happiness and virtue.

-----------oOo-----------

Generally speaking, many of the days of the week were renamed from the Roman calendar to the Germanic calendar after the Germanic deities instead of the Roman ones. However, for the day Saturday, the Germanic calendar stuck with naming the day after Saturn as none of the Germanic gods were the equivalent of Saturn.

-----------oOo-----------

In different cultures such as Scandinavian countries, Saturday is called lördag,lørdag, or laurdag, with the name being derived from the old word laugr/laug, meaning bath. So therefore ‘lördag’ equates to “bath-day.” This is due to the Viking practice of bathing on a Saturday.

-----------oOo-----------

For Jews, Seventh Day Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists, the seventh day of the week, known as Shabbat (or Sabbath for Seventh-day Adventists), stretches from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and is the day of rest. In Israel all government offices and most businesses, including public transportation, are closed on Saturday.

-----------oOo-----------

Monday’s child is fair of face

Tuesday’s child is full of grace

Wednesday’s child is full of woe

Thursday’s child has far to go

Friday’s child is loving and giving

Saturday’s child works hard for his living

And the child that is born on the Sabbath day

Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

Monday’s Child poem is an old English nursery rhyme poem first recorded in 1838

Saturday’s Child works Hard for a Living.

Saturday children are hardworking, responsible, and dedicated.

Sometimes “hard” is interpreted as difficult or struggling. However, traditional versions view hard work as a positive trait, as opposed to “lazy”, indicating Saturday’s children are passionate about their work and make lasting contributions to the world.

-----------oOo-----------

Black Saturday is the name given to the start of a series of deadly and devastating bushfires in Victoria, Australia, that started on Saturday February the 7th 2009 and were Australia’s all-time worst bushfire disasters.

-----------oOo-----------

Elton's songwriting partner Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics for Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting). Taupin called it his "first attempt to write a rock and roll song that was totally English." Until then, most of his songwriting focused on American culture.  This song is about Taupin's teen years going to British dance clubs, where fights were common. Many of Taupin's songs are written to relate to Elton's life, but not this one - it's unlikely that Elton would be fighting in a club.

Sir Elton would sometimes let fans come onstage and gather around his piano when he performed Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting. That ended on March 1, 2018 when an overanxious fan kept touching him when he played it at a concert in Las Vegas. Elton stormed off the stage, and when he returned, declared, "No more coming on stage on 'Saturday Night.' You fucked it up."

-----------oOo-----------

Traditionally, in olden days it was believed that Saturdays were the appropriate days to hunt down vampires because, on Saturdays they are restricted to their coffins.. In the Balkans tradition, those who are born on Saturdays are entitled to become vampire hunters as they are the only ones who can see vampires.

-----------oOo-----------

Saturday is the usual day for elections in Australia and the only day in New Zealand when elections can be held. It is also the preferred Election Day in the U.S. state of Louisiana.

-----------oOo-----------

The movie Saturday Night Fever was originally called "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night", the title of the New York Magazine article that inspired it. The film's title was ultimately shortened to "Saturday Night", as a direct reference to the fact that Tony (John Travolta) and his friends inhabited 2001 Odyssey on Saturday nights. However, when The Bee Gees submitted the soundtrack, one of the songs, "Night Fever", was thought to embody the film's spirit better than the original. Director John Badham added the word "Saturday" and it replaced the original title.