3 ms·
While we obviously can't change the length of the year in days, is there any actual reason to have a 7 day week beyond "that's what we've always done"?
by andersa 3y ago
While we obviously can't change the length of the year in days, is there any actual reason to have a 7 day week beyond "that's what we've always done"?
- hanche 3y agoThat’s really a strong reason, is it not? I have no idea for how long humanity has tracked the seven day week, but suspect it’s been well over 2000 years. That’s a lot of tradition to discard.
- adzm 3y agoGoes all the way back to the Babylonians, 4000 years ago, at least
- marcthe12 3y agoAlot of religions kinda use the week for weekly prayer (all Abrahamic religions) so you kinda stuck with it since you need to take that into account
- mongol 3y agoYeah, momentum. I can't think of what authority would be able to change it and make it be globally followed. A tradition of thousand years, with roots in religious texts. I don't think it is within anyone's power to change it.
- njarboe 3y ago7 days for the moon to go in half a cycle. Full to half. New moon to half moon. A pretty good demarkation of a period of time between one day and a month (full lunar cycle).
- clort 3y agoThe moon cycle is approx 28 days, which is 7x4. The height of tides are rooted in this but have 7 day periods of increasing, decreasing, increasing, decreasing. I don't know if thats reason enough to continue with it, but possibly part of the history
- stvltvs 3y agoThis is a pretty common approximation, but the average lunation is closer to 29.5 days.