Today is Saturday. What does that even mean?

A common theme in this COVID-19 era is that without our established productivity-driven schedule our accepted concept of time is deteriorating. In this series, I explore the gods from whom each day derives its name and how understanding these archetypes can add meaning to our daily days. We’re accustomed from to living from day to day as part of a mechanical continuum. This is an invitation to go deeper into the day itself.

Saturday, the Day of Saturn

Saturday is the only day of the week named for a Roman god, the god of time, boundaries, a limits. As the furthest planet visible to the naked eye, Saturn’s orbit seems to be a boundary that encloses the rest of the solar system.

In Ancient Rome, Saturn was a god of agriculture and periodic renewal, the cycle of growth and decay. Saturn’s reign was memorialized as an era of peace and prosperity, morality and righteousness, “the good old days” that followed a great war, in the same way many Americans have mythologized the 1950s.

When Rome conquered Greece and absorbed their mythology, Saturn adopted the qualities of the Kronos, the Titan god of time. Saturnalia, the Roman festival held during the winter solstice, was a time of feasting, revelry, and gift-giving, and a template for the celebration of Christmas after Rome became…