Editing Week (section)

===Christian Europe===
{{Further|Holy Week|Easter Week}}

The seven-day weekly cycle has remained unbroken in [[Christendom]], and hence in [[Western history]], for almost two millennia, despite changes to the [[Coptic calendar|Coptic]], [[Julian calendar|Julian]], and [[Gregorian calendar|Gregorian]] calendars, demonstrated by the date of [[Easter]] Sunday having been traced back through numerous [[computus|computistic tables]] to an Ethiopic copy of an early Alexandrian table beginning with the Easter of 311 CE.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Neugebauer
| first = Otto
| title = Ethiopic astronomy and computus
| publisher = Verl. d. Österr. Akad. d. Wiss
| year = 1979
| isbn = 978-3-7001-0289-2}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/20394641 |author=Jayne Lutwyche |date=22 January 2013 |title=Why are there seven days in a week? |publisher=BBC |work=Religion & Ethics |quote=The Roman context of the spread of Christianity meant that Rome contributed a lot to the structure and calendar of the new faith}}</ref>

A tradition of divinations arranged for the days of the week on which certain feast days occur develops in the early medieval period. There are many later variants of this, including the German {{lang|de|Bauern-Praktik}} and the versions of ''[[Erra Pater]]'' published in 16th- to 17th-century England, mocked in [[Samuel Butler (poet)|Samuel Butler]]'s ''[[Hudibras]]''. South and East Slavic versions are known as ''koliadniki'' (from ''koliada'', a loan of Latin {{lang|la|calendae}}), with Bulgarian copies dating from the 13th century, and Serbian versions from the 14th century.<ref name="Ryan380">William Francis Ryan, ''The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia'', Penn State Press, 1999
[https://books.google.com/books?id=S3qJMMYH6VYC&pg=PA380 p. 380].</ref>

Medieval Christian traditions associated with the lucky or unlucky nature of certain days of the week survived into the modern period. This concerns primarily [[Friday]], associated with the [[crucifixion of Jesus]]. [[Sunday]], sometimes personified as [[Anastasia the Patrician|Saint Anastasia]], was itself an object of worship in Russia, a practice denounced in a sermon extant in copies going back to the 14th century.<ref name="Ryan383">William Francis Ryan, ''The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia'', Penn State Press, 1999
[https://books.google.com/books?id=S3qJMMYH6VYC&pg=PA383 p. 383].</ref>

[[Sunday]], in the ecclesiastical numbering system also counted as the {{lang|la|feria prima}} or the first day of the week; yet, at the same time, figures as the "[[The eighth day (Christian)|eighth day]]", and has occasionally been so called in Christian liturgy.{{efn|1=This is just a reflection of the system of [[ordinal numbers]] in the Greek and Latin languages, where today is the "first" day, tomorrow the "second" day, etc. Compare the [[nundinal cycle]] (literally "nine-days" cycle, describing an [[eight-day week]]) of the Roman calendar, or the [[Resurrection of Jesus]] (after a period of less than 48 hours) being described (in texts derived from Latin) as happening on the "third day".}}

[[Justin Martyr]] wrote: "the first day after the Sabbath, remaining the first of all the days, is called, however, the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and [yet] remains the first."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/justinmartyr-dialoguetrypho.html |author=Peter Kirby |title=Saint Justin Martyr: Dialogue with Trypho |website=Early Christian Writings}}</ref>

A period of eight days, usually (but not always, mainly because of Christmas Day) starting and ending on a Sunday, is called an [[octave (liturgy)|octave]], particularly in [[Roman Catholic liturgy]]. In German, the phrase {{lang|de|heute in acht Tagen}} (literally "today in eight days") can also mean one week from today (i.e. on the same weekday). The same is true of the Italian phrase {{lang|it|oggi otto}} (literally "today eight"), the French {{lang|fr|à huitaine}}, and the Spanish {{lang|es|de hoy en ocho}}.