Monday

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For other uses, see Monday (disambiguation).

Monday (pron. IPA: [mʌn.deɪ] or [mʌn.di]) is considered either the first or starting day of the week, between Sunday and Tuesday. It gets its name from the Moon, which in turn gets its name from Mani (Old English Mona), the Germanic Moon god. Similarly, the Italian name (lunedi), the French name (lundi) and the Spanish name (lunes) come from the Latin name for moon, Luna. The Russian word, eschewing pagan names, is понедельник (poniediélnik), meaning "after Sunday."

Monday is often held to be the first day of the week. This is the case in most of Europe, parts of Africa, Australia, and South America. In Asia – because the western calendar system was introduced only during the 20th century – many languages refer to Monday as the "day of the beginning". For example, Monday is xingqi yi (星期一) in Chinese, meaning day one of the week. The international standard, ISO 8601, defines Monday as the first day of the week.

According to the Judeo-Christian count, Monday is the second day, the first being Sunday. This is also so for England, Canada and the United States. Its name in Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Persian and Portuguese means "second day". Quakers also traditionally refer to Monday as "Second Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the English name "Monday". For similar reasons the official liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church refers to Monday as "Feria II". (The Portuguese name for Monday reflects this, as do all the days' names except Saturday and Sunday: the Portuguese word for Monday is segunda-feira.)

Modern culture usually looks at Monday as the beginning of the workweek, as it is typically Monday when adults go back to work and children back to school after the weekend. It is Monday when commodity markets add or subtract weather premium, hence the nickname Weather Market Monday. Thus, Mondays are often seen as a misfortune. In Middle Eastern countries, however, the beginning of the workweek is usually Saturday (Thursday and Friday are observed as the weekend). In Israel, Sunday is the first day of the workweek. Friday is half a work day and Friday night and Saturday are the Sabbath.

[edit] Monday in popular culture

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In the nursery rhyme, "Monday's child is fair of face".
In the Garfield comic series, Garfield is known for hating Mondays despite the fact that he has no job. This is because he usually has bad luck on Mondays, always followed by the famous line, "I hate Mondays".
In a well known nursery rhyme Solomon Grundy was "born on Monday".
In the song "Rainy Days and Mondays" by The Carpenters in 1971.
The Boomtown Rats' biggest hit was 1979's "I Don't Like Mondays". (See also: Brenda Ann Spencer)
The title of The Mamas & the Papas 1966 hit "Monday, Monday".
Manic Monday by The Bangles.
"Thank God it's Monday" by NOFX
In the song "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad)" by T-Bone Walker
"Monday" by The Living End