Tuesday

The god Týr or Tiw, identified with Mars, after whom Tuesday is named.

Tuesday (pronounced /ˈtjuːzdeɪ, ˈtjuːzdi/ ( listen)) is the day of the week between Monday and Wednesday. Although some people consider Tuesday to be the third day of the week (with the week starting on Sunday), this is unusual and according to international standard ISO 8601 it is the second day of the week. It is derived from Old English Tiwesdæg and Middle English Tewesday, which means "Tiw's day".

Etymology

The name Tuesday derives from the Old English "Tiwesdæg" and literally means "Tiw's Day"^[1]. Tiw is the Old English form of the Proto-Germanic god *Tîwaz, or Týr in Norse, a god of war and law^[2][3].

In most languages with Latin origins (French, Spanish, Italian), the day is named after Mars, the Roman god of war.

In the Indic languages of Pali and Sanskrit, as well as in Thailand, the name of the day is taken from Angaraka ('one who is red in colour')^[4] a style (manner of address) for Mangala, the god of war, and for Mars, the red planet.

Religious observances

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Tuesdays are dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. The Octoechos contains hymns on this theme, arranged in an eight-week cycle, that are chanted on Tuesdays throughout the year. At the end of Divine Services on Tuesday, the dismissal begins with the words: "May Christ our True God, through the intercessions of his most-pure Mother, of the honorable and glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John…"

Cultural references

In the Greek world, Tuesday (the day of the week of the Fall of Constantinople) is considered an unlucky day. The same is true in the Spanish-speaking world, where a proverb runs: En martes, ni te cases ni te embarques, meaning, "On Tuesday, neither get married nor begin a journey." For both Greeks and Spanish-speakers, the 13th of the month is considered unlucky if it falls on Tuesday, instead of Friday. In Judaism, on the other hand, Tuesday is considered a particularly lucky day, because in the first chapter of Genesis the paragraph about this day contains the phrase "it was good" twice.

In the Thai solar calendar, the day is named for the Pali word for the planet Mars, which also means "Ashes of the Dead" [1]; the color associated with Tuesday is pink.

In the folk rhyme Monday's Child, "Tuesday's child is full of grace".

Common occurrences

United States and Canada

Tuesday is the usual day for elections in the United States. Federal elections take place on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November; this date was established by a law of 1845 for presidential elections (specifically for the selection of the Electoral College), and was extended to elections for the House of Representatives in 1875 and for the Senate in 1914. Tuesday was the earliest day of the week which was practical for polling in the early nineteenth century: citizens might have to travel for a whole day to cast their vote, and would not wish to leave on Sunday which was a day of worship for the great majority of them.

In the United States and Canada, most home video and audio releases for purchase or rental occur on Tuesdays. Since this policy began, there have been very few exceptions to this common release day.

Named days

• Black Tuesday, in the United States, refers to Tuesday, October 29, 1929, part of the great Stock Market Crash of 1929. This was the Tuesday after Black Thursday. The crash is said to have marked the start of the Great Depression.
• Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday of every month when Microsoft releases patches for their products. Some system administrators call this day Black Tuesday.
• Shrove Tuesday (also called Mardi Gras - fat Tuesday) precedes the first day of Lent in the Western Christian calendar.
• Super Tuesday is the day many American states hold their presidential primary elections.

Sources

• Grimm, Jacob. 1875–78. Deutsche Mythologie. Fourth ed., curated by Elard Hugo Meyer, 3 vols. Berlin: F. Dümmler. Reprinted Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1965.

References