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Subject: Re: [TMG] Re: Quaker dates redux
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2003 10:51:38 EDT
From the British Quaker site: (
<A HREF="http://www.faqs.org/faqs/Quaker-faq/">soc.religion.quaker Answers to Frequently Asked Questions</A>
Subject: (7.3) Days of the Week
Early Friends made a big deal out of removing names of
Mythology figures (Greek, Roman, and Norse Gods) and such from
their speech. Thus the days of the week are referred to as
"First Day" through "Seventh Day" instead of Sunday through
Saturday, and "First Month" through "Twelfth Month" instead of
January through December. This notation is common in writings
like _The Journal of John Woolman_ and other classic Friends
writings.
Modern Friends are often not so picky, but Minutes of business
meetings, etc. often still refer to the days numerically, and
it is invariably called "First Day School" not "Sunday School"
at Quaker meetings in the US.
This can lead to some tricky phrasing when talking about the
second Sunday of May, which is of course the second First Day
of Fifth Month...
--------
It has always been my impression that Quaker dating has nothing to do with
1752 -- that is an entirely different subject.
And I really like - and appreciate - Peter's system of putting this in TMG
--- I have a bunch of early Quakers to record and really didn't trust my
"translation" of the dates to regular dates <G>
Incidentally, this is a very good site for those who are interested in
learning more about the Quakers - including dates <G>
Carol Collins
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