What day does the week start on?

Capt Lightning

Capt Lightning

Well-known Member
Location
Historic Buchan, Scotland
Mrs.L and I grew up with the belief that the week started on Sunday. I have a book in which I write the meals for the week, starting with Sunday dinner.
I want a 'week at a view' diary to plan that week's meals , but they all start on Monday.
The working week generally starts on Monday, but what day does the calendar week start on?
 

I was raised that Sunday is.

Howeverrrrr - I googled it. Sunday is correct according to the Gregorian Calendar. Monday is correct according to that big burr under my work saddle called ISO:

”ISO 8601
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the regulator of ISO 8601, which is the international standard for covering the exchange of data related to date or time. Though it is used by the majority of the world, particularly developed countries, not all adhere to this standard. The internationally recognized method of conveying the day of the week is governed by ISO 8601, which uses an algorithm for calculating the day of a week in a particular month and year. It is called Zeller's congruence, which was invented by Christian Zeller. Monday is the official first day of the week according to ISO 8601.

Gregorian Calendar​

The Gregorian Calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, is based on the time it takes the moon to make one full revolution around the Earth (roughly one month) and the Sun to make a full revolution around the Earth (roughly one year). Because celestial bodies of such close proximity can be widely encountered, it was common in ancient times to use them to tell time and/or date. This method was further refined into what we now know as the current Gregorian Calendar.”

Day of the Week Calculator.

That means you should do what you are comfortable with😇😇
 
I don't know about Zeller's congruence algorithm, but the week always started when I got up on Monday morning. And after all, Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday are called the "weekend". How can Sunday be the "weekend" if it starts the week off?
 
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Back when I was working, Sunday felt like the beginning of the week because I'd be doing laundry and other chores to be ready for the upcoming week, and had to focus on getting to bed on time to rise early for work on Monday. When my daughter was young, I remember my Sunday bedtime countdown started at 3 PM to make sure everything was ready.

Now that I'm retired, Monday feels like the beginning of the week because that is when the doctor's office and other offices that I might want to contact are open. And also the buses run twice as often on weekdays, so that adds to Monday feeling like the beginning of the week.
 
Now that I'me retired, most days feel the same. As I've said in previous posts, Sunday has become a popular shopping day with trading hours typically 8am to 8 pm. God may have rested, but shop staff don't.

It looks like I've got no option but to use a diary where the weeks start on Monday. It's not too big a problem , but a week will be split over 2 pages.
 
Where does a circle begin and end?

IMO, the first and last day of the week is entirely arbitrary.

And if I say that Christmas Day is February 6th, then why shouldn't it be that date?

However, I do see the need for others to agree with me, otherwise chaos.
 
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