A Brand New Day, Part 3:                                                                          What shall we call it?

                A new day has been created – to be placed between Saturday and Sunday. A true day of             rest, recuperation, relaxation and reflection. We’ve radically restructured the calendar for the first time in nearly half a millennium to make access for our day.

                But what shall we call it?

                Days have been named since there have been people to name them. Babylon named their days based on the phases of the moon. Ancient Greeks and Romans named them after their gods.

                Some of the origins of our days’ names are obvious and some not. Here’s the break-down: the sun, the moon, Tyr (really? I thought it was named after Zeus), Odin/Wotan, Thor, Freya or Frigg and Saturn in that order. A nice mix of natural bodies, German/Norse and Roman gods.

                Should we name our new day after a cosmic body?  Venus or Mars? Marsday sounds good. The ancient Romans and Greeks named Tuesday after Mars, so there is a precedent. Likewise they named what we call Friday after Venus or Aphrodite. The trifecta of sun, moon and stars would give us Starsday. Starsday?  That sounds better! And it fits in between Saturday and Sunday. Say it out loud – Saturday, Starsday, Sunday. Nice!  That goes on the list.

                Perhaps we can go back to the Norse gods.  Heimday?  Sifday? Baldurday (balderdash)?  Hmm, maybe the Norse mythos has been mined for all it’s worth. 

                The days of the week were named more for the similar Teutonic gods than the similar Norse. Donar, Irmin, Ostara, Rind; none of these seem to make good days. I like Njorday, though.

                OK then, any Greek gods we can use to name our day? Poseiday? Heraday (sounds like a vitamin supplement)? Apolday?  These do not seem to work. Hestia?  Hestday? Hesterday? Nothing seems to be working here.

                Roman, then. Trouble is, most of the Roman gods are already named after the planets – we have already sounded out Marsday and Venusday. Jupiterday? Or shortened to Juday? Oh, no, no…

                Neptday?

                Uranus?  Would you like to have a day named after Uranus? I certainly would. Wouldn’t most people like to have a day named after their anus?  Don’t give me this “it’s pronounced YER’-uh-nus”. No it’s NOT! It’s “Yer-ANUS”. Learn to live with Yer-ANUS.  You don’t have to love Yer-ANUS, but you must accept Yer-ANUS.  Face facts. Face Uranus.  It’s the only one you've got!

                Stick with me through this stream-of-consciousness here… Uranusday.  Urday.  Yourday. This is your day.  Hey, that kind of fits. Don’t like the spelling though. Yorday. Re-spelling and re-figuring the days are traditional (Tuesday from Tyr, Wednesday from Wotan, and when was the last time you looked up and howled at the full Mon?).  Yorday, like days of yore…

                That settles that! Yorday! Happy Yorday! Enjoy Yorday!

                Next: All is not well…