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Good question. Here's another: Why'd they make it only two days? Following is a short history of the weekend, pieced together from various sources, many of which refer to the book "Waiting for the Weekend" by Witold Rybczynski. The concept of taking time off from work is ancient. The Bible asserts that even God took it easy on the seventh day (thus compelling Him to create football). Although pre-industrial European Christians viewed Sundays solely as a time to dedicate one's self to the Deity, European workers
had a longstanding practice of skipping work each "Saint Monday" to recover from the previous day's drinking. From 1793 to 1805, the French Revolutionary Calendar called for one day of leisure at the end of a 10-day week. But it wasn't until the English industrial revolution that the movement for an additional day off took hold. The American concept of the weekend has its roots in labor union attempts to accommodate Jewish workers who took Saturday instead of Sunday as their Sabbath. The first five-day work week, according to a
posted extract of Rybczynski's book, was instituted by a New England spinning mill for just this reason. In 1926, Henry Ford began closing his factories on Saturdays, thinking this would help spur the economy. But it wasn't until 1940 that the two-day weekend officially began nationwide, thus paving the way for golf addiction, rummage sales, and a really happening song from the supergroup Loverboy. TGIF, everyone, TGIF.
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