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'Thursday' is the fourth day of the week in most western countries and the fifth day of the week in the Judeo-Christian calendar, falling between Wednesday and Friday. In countries that adopt the ''Sunday-first'' convention, it is considered the fifth day of the week. However, in ISO 8601 it is the fourth day of the week. In Slavic languages and in Chinese, this day's name is "fourth" (Polish ''czwartek'', Russian ''четверг,'' pronounced CHET-vierg). Portuguese, too, uses a number for this day: ''quinta-feira,'' "fifth day", (see Days of the week for more on the different conventions).
The contemporary name comes from the Old English ''Þunresdæg'' (with loss of -n-, first in northern dialects, from influence of Old Norse ''Þorsdagr''), meaning "Day of Thunor", this being a rough Germanic equivalent to the Latin ''Iovis Dies'', "Jupiter's Day". Most Germanic and Romance-speaking countries use their languages' equivalents: German ''Donnerstag'', ''torsdag'' in Scandinavia, Italian ''giovedì'', Spanish ''jueves'', French ''jeudi'', Catalan ''dijous'', and Romanian ''joi''. The Hindi word for Thursday is ''Guruvar'', with ''Guru'' being the ''Sanskrit'' name for the planet Jupiter.
In Thailand, the color associated with Thursday is orange, see Thai solar calendar.

Contents

Thursday in religion

Thursday in the United Kingdom

Note

Astrological and Astronomical sign

Thursday in popular culture

Named days

References

External links

Thursday in religion

In the Hindu religion, Thursday is ''Guruvaar'', from ''Guru'', the Sanskrit name for Jupiter, the largest of planets. Guruvaar fasting is very common in the various parts of north India.
Quakers traditionally refer to Thursday as "Fifth Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the name "Thursday". The name of the day is also called by words meaning "fifth day" in Icelandic, Modern Greek, Portuguese, and modern Semitic languages.
In the Christian tradition, Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter — the day on which the Last Supper occurred. Ascension Thursday is the day 40 days after Easter, when Christ ascended into Heaven.
In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is an annual festival celebrated on a Thursday in November, currently the fourth Thursday.
A religion (which is a joke version of omphalism) known as Last Thursdayism teaches that the world was created last Thursday, but with the appearance of age: people's memories, history books, fossils, light already on the way from distant stars, and so forth.

Thursday in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, all general elections since 1935 have been held on a Thursday, and this has become a tradition, although not a requirement of the law — which only states that an election may be held on any day ''"except Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, bank holidays in any part of the United Kingdom and any day appointed for public thanksgiving and mourning"''. An explanation sometimes given for the choice of Thursday as polling day is that it was, in most towns, the traditional market day, although it has also been observed that the choice has practical advantages — with the outcome of the election being known by Friday, the new or continuing administration then has the weekend to organise itself in preparation for the "government shop opening for business" on Monday, the first day of the new week following the election.
Additionally, local elections are usually held on the first Thursday in May.
The Thursday before Easter is also known as ''Maundy Thursday'' or ''Sheer Thursday'' in the United Kingdom, traditionally a day of cleaning and giving out Maundy money.

Note

In Latin the Genitive or possessive case of Jupiter was ''Jovis'' and as such in most Romance languages with the exception of Portuguese it became the word for Thursday: Latin ''Jovis Dies'', Spanish ''Jueves'', Italian ''Giovedi'', and Rumanian ''Jiuvidi''.

Astrological and Astronomical sign

The astrological and astronomical sign of the planet Jupiter () represents Thursday with similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as the French Jeudi. In English, this became "Thor's Day," since the Roman god Jupiter was identified with Thor in northern Europe.

Thursday in popular culture

In the nursery rhyme, "''Thursday's Child has far to go''".
Gabriel Syme, the main character was given the title of Thursday in G. K. Chesterton's novel "The Man Who Was Thursday."
In ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by Douglas Adams, the character Arthur Dent says ''"This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays"''. A few minutes later the planet Earth is destroyed. Thor, for whom the day was named, also appears later in the Hitchhiker's series and in other Adams books. Appropriately, in ''The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul'', one of the characters says to Thor: ''"I'm not used to spending the evening with someone who's got a whole day named after them"''.
In the cross media work ''Thursday's Fictions'' by Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman, Thursday is the title character, a woman who tries to cheat the cycle of reincarnation to get a form of eternal life. ''Thursday's Fictions'' which has been a stage production, a book, a film and an 3D online immersive world in Second Life.^[1]
Thursday is sometimes referred to as "Friday Eve" in anticipation for the end of the work week on Friday.
Thursday is a post-hardcore band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 1997.
''Thursday's Child'' is a David Bowie song from the album ''hours...''(1999).
Thursday's Child is also a song by The Chameleons in Script of the Bridge (1983).
In Neil Gaiman's American Gods, when Wednesday introduces himself, he remarks that given the weather (he and the main character are flying in a thunderstorm), it could be Thursday, as Thor was the god of thunder.
''Outlook for Thursday'' was a hit in New Zealand for Dave Dobbyn.
"Thursday" is the name of an episode of Strange Days at Blake Holsey High. In the episode Corrine Baxter finds herself trapped in the same day over and over again, similar to the premise of the film Groundhog Day.
"Thursday Next" is the central character in a series of novels by Jasper Fforde.
In high schools in the United States during the 1960s, it was widely believed that if someone wore green on Thursdays, it meant that they were gay. ^[2]
"Thursday" is an NPC in the online game Dragonfable.
In "Breakfast at Tiffany's (novella)," Truman Capote writes of Holly Golightly: "'Thursday.' She stood up. 'My God,' she said, and sat down again with a moan. 'It's too gruesome.'"
Thursday is the day of the Second Round draw in the English League Cup.

Named days

★ Black Thursday refers to October 24, 1929 when stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange fell sharply, with record volume of nearly 13 million shares. Five days later, the market crashed on volume of over 16 million shares – a level not to be surpassed for 39 years. In popular imagery, the crash has come to mark the beginning of the Great Depression.

★ Last Thursday is an important date in the Last Thursdayism movement, a parody of omphalism which claims that the Universe was created last Thursday.

References

1. http://www.realtimearts.net/article/80/8662
2. Grahn, Judy ''Another Mother Tongue'' New York:1990--Beacon Press: This book discusses the origins of this curious belief.

External links

★ Phra Phareuhadsabodih, the God of Thursday in Buddhist mythology

★ ''Thursday's Fictions'' stage production, book, film, Second Life world