Thursday Facts and Trivia

The word ‘Thursday’ was derived from:

• Old English ‘thunresdæg’ – thunder’s day
• Latin ‘dies Jovis’- day of Jupiter
• Ancient Greek ‘hemera Dios’ – day of Zeus

Thor is the Norse god of thunder. Jupiter is the supreme Roman god, noted for creating thunder and lightening, and Zeus is the Greek god of the heavens.

Other Common Names

Thursday is sometimes referred to as ‘Friday Eve’ in anticipation for the end of the working week on Friday. College and university students sometimes refer to Thursday as the ‘New Friday’, as there are often fewer classes on Fridays and more opportunities to hold parties on Thursdays nights. It is also sometimes known as ‘thirstday’, or ‘thirsty Thursday’.

Health and Colour

The ancient system of health care called Ayurveda which centres on holistic health recommends wearing yellow and being around yellow flowers on this day of the week.

Songs

• Songs named after Thursday include:
• Thursday Child – David Bowie
• Thursday Child – The Chameleons
• Outlook for Thursday – Dave Dobbyn
• Thursday – Jim Croche
• Jersey Thursday – Donovan

Books

If you were born on a Thursday, the nursery rhyme of Mother Goose states that you would have ‘far to go’ and fiction books with Thursday in the title include:

• The Man Who Was Thursday – G.K. Chesterton
• Sweet Thursday – John Steinbeck
• Thursday Next – Jasper Fforde

Religion

• Quakers traditionally refer to Thursday as ‘Fifth Day’ to discount the pagan origin of the English name ‘Thursday’
• ‘Maundy Thursday’ refers to the Thursday before Easter, and is part of the Holy Week
• A Nostradamus prediction (Century 1, Quatrain 50) states that a powerful leader who threatens ‘the East’, will be born of three water signs and take Thursday as his feast day

Sport

• Thursday is the day of the Second Round draw in the English League Cup
• Thursday nights are held for prime time television of college and NFL professional football games in the United States

Political

In the United Kingdom all general elections since 1935 have been held on a Thursday and although this is not a requirement of law it has become a tradition. It is sometimes thought that Thursday was the chosen polling day as it is furthest from the Friday and weekend before, therefore making it the day when people were most sober. Local elections are usually held on the first Thursday in May.

Annual Festival

In the United States Thanksgiving Day is an annual festival currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.

.

© Copyright J M Lennox. All Rights Reserved.