Change in our Calendars
If you could step into a time machine and travel with me to the 1950s and before, you would find that in countries like the United Kingdom, calendars started with Sunday as the first day of the week and had Saturday as the seventh day. In contrast, if you look at most calendars in the United Kingdom, they now start with Monday as the first day of the week and have Sunday as the seventh. Why the change? Surely this is confusing.
If you now travel with me to North America, you will find that most calendars start with Sunday as the first day of the week and have Saturday as the seventh. It is a breath of fresh air to see an area of the world where the week has not been changed.
Looking at the 1961 Britannica Encyclopaedia I found a nice little chart on page 568 of volume 4 (photo below). This shows the order of the week with the Latin and Saxon words explained.
This section may appear to contain some useful general knowledge but as we read on we will see its greater significance. Is history repeating itself?
