The seven-day cycle is known as a week.
A week is a cycle made up of seven consecutive days ; That is, the period of 7 consecutive calendar days, starting on Monday and ending on Sunday.
The days are ordered respecting a convention supported by the regulations identified as ISO 8601 . If a person refers to “next week,” they will be talking about some time that will take place between the following Monday and Sunday from the moment they say: “I promised my wife that I would take her out to dinner next week.” , “I'm resting since last week I had leg surgery” , “The gas bill has arrived, although it is due next week” .
Emergence of the weeks
It is believed that the emergence of weeks composed of seven days is linked to the cycles of the lunar phases (full moon, waning moon, new moon and waxing moon). Each of these phases lasts seven days (that is, one week). The name of the days of the week, on the other hand, comes from the stars that ancient astronomers observed. Many planets (such as Mars or Saturn ) were considered mobile stars by experts. The Portuguese language, on the other hand, lists the days according to their order ( second feira , third feira , etc.).
Although the ISO 8601 standard establishes that Monday begins any week, this conception may vary according to culture. In countries like the United States or Great Britain , the day that marks the beginning of the week is Sunday. However, they maintain the convention of considering Saturday and Sunday as “weekends” (and, therefore, understanding them as non-working days).
The Bible points out that God created the world in six days and rested only on the seventh. This also explains why the week has 7 days and allows us to understand why Jews consider Sunday the initial day of the week (it is the day that follows the Sabbath of rest).
It is common for the week to be considered to begin on Sunday.
Various festivities
It is worth mentioning that there are different holidays related to a specific week of the year, some of them are:
- Poetry Week : in various cities around the world there are seven days a year that are dedicated exclusively to poetry; They hold poetic readings , literary gatherings and numerous events related to the world of letters. It is a good opportunity for young authors to make themselves known and at the same time get to know the new voices in their city. Some cities where this event takes place are Buenos Aires , El Salvador , Bilbao , Málaga and Granada .
- Sweetness Week : It is celebrated the first week of July in Argentina and consists of seven days in which people express affection by giving sweets and treats. Its history dates back to 1989 , when the Arcor company, which produces candy of all kinds, launched an advertisement under the slogan "a candy for a kiss" ; This campaign resulted in a massive contagion in the consumption of sweets to express affection that has continued since then.
- Student Week : this event takes place in some cities and its objective is to encourage young people to carry out recreational tasks that put them in contact with nature, their own classmates and themselves. Unfortunately, this goal is not usually met, since most students understand that these dates are used to miss class and get extremely drunk. Because of this, in many places this tradition is beginning to be lost since it is considered counterproductive for youth.