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| from JK Rowling's Harry Potter |
from http://religionnerd.com/2011/07/13/alchemical-traces-in-harry-potter-part-i/
Hermes/Mercury’s iconic staff, the caduceus, represents his healing attributes and is now most frequently recognized today as an emblem of the medical profession. While these cultures (Egyptian, Greek, and Roman) are distinct and disparate, among later alchemists, the practice of syncretism (the mixing and blending of various religious and cultural traditions) was common.
from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wednesday
The name Wednesday continues Middle English Wednesdei. Old English still had wōdnesdæg, which would be continued as *Wodnesday (but Old Frisian has an attested wednesdei). By the early 13th century, the i-mutated form was introduced unetymologically.
The name is a calque of the Latin dies Mercurii "day of Mercury", reflecting the fact that the Germanic god Woden (Wodanaz or Odin) during the Roman era was interpreted as "Germanic Mercury".
The Latin name dates to the late 2nd or early 3rd century. It is a calque of Greek ἡμέρα Ἕρμου heméra Hérmou, a term first attested, together with the system of naming the seven weekdays after the seven classical planets, in the Anthologiarum by Vettius Valens (ca. AD 170).
The Latin name is reflected directly in the weekday name in Romance languages: mercredi (French), mercoledì (Italian), miércoles (Spanish), miercuri (Romanian), dimecres (Catalan), Marcuri or Mercuri (Corsican), dies Mercurii (Latin). The German name for the day, Mittwoch (literally: "mid-week"), replaced the former name Wodanstag ("Wodan's day") in the tenth century. Most Slavic languages follow this pattern and use derivations of "the middle" (Bulgarian сряда sryada, Croatian srijeda, Czech středa, Macedonian среда sreda, Polish środa, Russian среда sredá, Serbian среда/sreda or cриједа/srijeda, Slovak streda, Slovene sreda, Ukrainian середа sereda). The Finnish name is Keskiviikko ("middle of the week"), as is the Icelandic name: Miðvikudagur, and the Faroese name: Mikudagur ("Mid-week day"),. Some dialects of Faroese have Ónsdagur, though, which shares etymology with Wednesday.Danish, Dansk Onsdag, ("Ons-dag").wednesday is called 'budhwar in hindi.
Portuguese uses the word quarta-feira, meaning "fourth day". While in Greek the word is Tetarti (Τετάρτη) meaning simply "fourth." Similarly, Arabic أربعاء means "fourth", Hebrew רביעי means "fourth" and Persian چهارشنبه means "fourth day." Yet the name for the day in Estonian is (kolmapäev) meaning "third day) and in Mandarin Chinese, 星期三 (xīngqí sān), means "day three", as Sunday is unnumbered.
The Creation narrative in the Hebrew Bible places the creation of the Sun and Moon on "the fourth day" of the divine workweek.
Quakers traditionally refer to Wednesday as "Fourth Day" to avoid the pagan associations that exist with the name "Wednesday".
The Eastern Orthodox Church observes Wednesday (as well as Friday) as a fast day throughout the year (with the exception of several fast-free periods during the year). Fasting on Wednesday and Fridays entails abstinence from meat or meat products (i.e., four-footed animals), poultry and dairy products. Unless a feast day occurs on a Friday, the Orthodox also abstain from fish, from using oil in their cooking and from alcoholic beverages (there is some debate over whether abstention from oil involves all cooking oil or only olive oil). For the Orthodox, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year commemorate the betrayal of Jesus (Wednesday) and the Crucifixion of Christ (Friday). There are hymns in the Octoekhos which reflect this liturgically. These include special Theotokia (hymns to the Mother of God) called Stavrotheotokia ("Cross-Theotokia"). The dismissal at the end of services on Wednesday begins with these words: "May Christ our true God, through the power of the precious and life-giving cross...."
In Irish and Scottish Gaelic, the name for Wednesday also refers to fasting, as it is Dé Céadaoin in Irish Gaelic and Di-Ciadain in Scottish Gaelic, which comes from aoine, "fasting" and means "first day of fasting".[citation needed]
In American culture many Catholic and Protestant churches and some Jewish synagogues schedule study or prayer meetings on Wednesday nights. The sports calendar in many American public schools reflects this, reserving Mondays and Thursdays for girls' games and Tuesdays and Fridays for boys' games while generally avoiding events on Wednesday evening.
Cultural references
According to the Thai solar calendar, the color associated with Wednesday is green.
In the folk rhyme, "Wednesday's child is full of woe". In another rhyme reciting the days of the week, Solomon Grundy was 'Married on Wednesday.' In Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, the disagreeable nature of the weather is attributed to it being "Winds-Day" (a play on "Wednesday"). In Richard Brautigan's In Watermelon Sugar Wednesday is the day when the sun shines grey.
Wednesday sometimes appears as a character's name in literary works. These include Thursday's fictions by Richard James Allen and Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods. In the 1945 John Steinbeck novel Sweet Thursday, the titular day is preceded by "Lousy Wednesday".
A song titled "Wednesday's Song" is on the 2004 album Shadows Collide with People by John Frusciante, "Wednesday" is the title of a song on musician Tori Amos' "Scarlet's Walk" album.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a professional football club based in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England.
Wednesday Friday Addams is a member of the fictional family The Addams Family.
Astrology
The astrological sign of the planet Mercury, ☿, represents Wednesday — Dies Mercurii to the Romans, with similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as the Italian mercoledì (dì means "day"), the French mercredi and the Spanish miércoles. In English, this became "Woden's Day", since the Roman god Mercury was identified with Woden in northern Europe.
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