Weekend is a term referring to two traditionally non-working days in a seven-day week.

[edit] History

While the idea of a non working day goes back to biblical times, the idea of two non working days at the end of every week is not very old.

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.^[1] The first five-day work week was instituted by a New England spinning mill for this reason.

In 1926 Henry Ford began shutting down his automobile factories for the entire weekend, Saturday and Sunday. In 1929 the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was the first to demand a five-day work week and receive it. After that, the rest of the country slowly followed suit, but it wasn't until 1940 that the two-day weekend began nationwide.

However in the UK Saturday morning was a part of the normal working week until the mid 1950s when progressively a five day week began over the coming years.

[edit] See also

• Workweek

[edit] References

1. ^ Waiting for the Weekend by Witold Rybczynski