To not understand why some people think Sunday is the first day of the week?

[moutonfou]

Speaking in the context of UK society (i.e. dominant religion is Christianity, or debatably now atheism... )

It makes no sense culturally, because why would the week start halfway through the weekend?

It makes no sense religiously, because surely we're taught that God made the world in 6 days, and rested on the final day. Hence, we too rest on the final day. Why would the week start on the day God finished?

Is there something I'm missing?

Well God rested on the seventh day. Which is Sunday. He didn't rest on the first. (if you believe all that, of course).

I'm a teacher. Monday is the first day of the school week, as it is for every school child. To me, Sunday is the second day of the weekend, the last bit of the break at the end of the week, before a new working week starts.

Surely his day of rest was the sabbath? Which is Saturday? Or have I got that wrong?

I was always taught it was. Didn’t question it but it makes no sense

Witchend, with all due respect, what does that have to do with anything? It might have been the first Easter Sunday (though of course it wouldn't have been called anything like that for a long time) but that doesn't fix it as the first day of the week.

For as long as I remember as a child I had a poster on my bedroom door that listed the days, starting with Saturday and I have never managed to work my head to thinking it starts Monday

Well God rested on the seventh day. Which is Sunday.
Except it was Saturday hence the Jewish sabbath!

Oxford University weeks start on Sunday, or at least I presume they still do.

Slightly OT but I thought it was just my workplace that ran Sunday-Saturday, I didn't realise it was a general retail-sector-wide thing

I've always been told the week ran Sunday to Saturday to coincide with the Sabbath day/rest day religious beliefs.

Since working my own weeks run Monday-Sunday as I work Monday-Friday and it makes more sense, in my head.

My relative works in a call centre for Sky, their weeks run Friday-Thursday. It's anarchy.

In the Christian calendar, certainly in the middle ages (i know of it back to the 7th century, it's certainly older i just don't personally know that evidence) Sunday is the start of each week. Week days are called feria 2 (=Monday ), feria 3 (=Tuesday) etc, and Saturday is "sabbato".

Having Sunday as the start of the week is because we have not significantly changed that aspect of our calendar system in about 1500 years. Or more, maybe.

Monday has always been the first day of the week to me and my family.

I've just moved jobs (retail) and the week is rota'd sun-sat. Makes it easy for a particular manager to have every weekend off; it doesn't show on her rota

I was also brought up to think that Sunday was the first day of the week, but I do accept that some people think Monday.

This is, I think, why people get so mixed up with sentences like: "I'll meet you next Tuesday." Now if you said that to ME on a Sunday, I'd think you meant nine days from now. But others, who think the week starts on a Monday, might think you mean in two days time.

I need a lie down now.