Pagan Days of the Week

Sunday is named after Sunna (Sol), Germanic Goddess of the Sun, from which the word sun also is derived.

Monday was named after the Moon Goddess.

Tuesday was named after the God Tyr, he is the Germanic God of War and the Patron God of Justice, the precursor of Odin.

Wednesday is the midday of the week and is named after the Norse God, Odin. He was also known as Woden or Wotan. Unlike many of the other days of the week, this day did not correspond roughly with the Roman designation for the day. The early Scandanavians and Germans believed that Odin was the chief God of Asgard and as such deserved to have a day of the week named for him. The Anglo Saxons used the word, Wodnesdaeg.

Thursday was named after the God Thor who is the Norse God of Thunder. He is represented as riding a chariot drawn by goats and wielding the hammer Mjollnir. Rolling thunder is the sound of Thors chariot wheels as he rides the skies. He is the defender of the Aesir.

Friday was named after the goddess Frigga who is the Goddess of Fertility. When Norse tribes converted to Christianity Frigga was banished to a mountaintop and denounced as a witch. She was known as Frigga, Frigg, Frija, and Fri, but Frigedaeg (Friggs day) became Friday in the English calendar. In old German, she was called Frija; in Anglo-Saxon, Frig; and in old Norse, Frigg. According to Teutonic mythology, she was the second and principal wife of Odin and Goddess of the clouds and sky, of married love, and housewives.

Saturday is the only day of the week that has retained its Roman origins in the wake of the English invasions of the Anglos and Saxons. This may have been because there was no Norse God to correspond to the Roman God of Time and the Harvest, Saturn. The Anglo-Saxons simply adapted the Roman, dies saturni, making it saterdaeg. Saturn presided over the Roman festival known as Saturnalia.

The WAU Sisterhood
Estd 1990