Thursday
Thursday, according to ISO 8601, is either the fourth or fifth day of the week, falling between Wednesday and Friday. In countries that adopt the Sunday-first convention, it is considered the fifth day of the week. (see Days of the week for more on the different conventions.)
The contemporary name Thursday comes from the Old English Þunresdæg, meaning "Day of Thunor", this being a rough Germanic equivalent to the Latin Iovis Dies, "Jupiter's Day." Other Germanic and Latin speaking countries use their languages' equivalents; German Donnerstag, torsdag in Scandinavia, Italian giovedì, Spanish jueves, French jeudi.
Thursday in religion
In the Hindu religion, Thursday is Guruvar, from Guru, the Sanskrit name for Jupiter, the largest of planets. Guruvar fasting is very common in the various parts of north India.
Quakers traditionally refer to Thursday as "Fifth Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the name "Thursday". In Slavic countries, however, it is called "Fourth Day" (Polish czwartek, Russian chetverg).
In the Christian tradition, Holy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter — the day on which the Last Supper occurred. Ascension Thursday, also known as Ascension Day, is the day 40 days after Easter Sunday, when Christ ascended into Heaven.
In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is an annual festival celebrated on a Thursday in November, currently the fourth Thursday.
Thursday in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, all general elections since 1935 have been held on a Thursday, and this has become a tradition, although not a requirement of the law — which only states that an election may be held on any day "except Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, bank holidays in any part of the United Kingdom and any day appointed for public thanksgiving and mourning". An explanation sometimes given for the choice of Thursday as polling day is that it was, in most towns, the traditional market day, although it has also been observed that the choice has practical advantages — with the outcome of the election being known by Friday, the new or continuing administration then has the weekend to organize itself in preparation for the "government shop opening for business" on Monday, the first day of the new week following the election.
Additionally, local elections are usually held on the first Thursday in May.
The Thursday before Easter is also known as Maundy Thursday or Sheer Thursday in the United Kingdom, traditionally a day of cleaning and giving out Maundy money.
Astrological sign
The astrological sign of the planet Jupiter represents Thursday with similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as the French Jeudi. In English, this became "Thor's Day", since the Roman god Jupiter was identified with Thor in northern Europe.
Thursday in popular culture
In the popular rhyme, "Thursday's Child has far to go".
Gabriel Syme, the main character was given the title of Thursday in G. K. Chesterton's novel "The Man Who Was Thursday."
In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the character Arthur Dent says "This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays". A few minutes later the planet Earth is destroyed. Thor, for whom the day was named, also appears later in the Hitchhiker's series and in other Adams books. Appropriately, in The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul, one of the characters says to Thor: "I'm not used to spending the evening with someone who's got a whole day named after them".
Thursday is commonly humorously referred to as "Friday Eve" in anticipation for the end of the work week on Friday.
Thursday is an indie rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 1997.
Thursday's Child is a David Bowie song from the album hours...(1999).
In Neil Gaiman's American Gods, when Wednesday introduces himself, he remarks that given the weather (he and the main character are flying in a thunderstorm), it could be Thursday, as Thor was the god of thunder.
Outlook for Thursday was a hit in New Zealand for Dave Dobbyn.
"Thursday" is the name of an episode of Strange Days at Blake Holsey High. In the episode Corrine Baxter finds herself trapped in the same day over and over again, similar to the premise of the film Groundhog Day.
"Thursday Next" is the central character in a series of novels by Jasper Fforde.
Named days
- Black Thursday refers to October 24, 1929 when stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange fell sharply, with record volume of nearly 13 million shares. Five days later, the market crashed on volume of over 16 million shares – a level not to be surpassed for 39 years. In popular imagery, the crash has come to mark the beginning of the Great Depression.
- Last Thursday is an important date in the Last Thursdayism movement, a parody of omphalism which claims that the Universe was created last Thursday.