Sabbath Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Other religious traditions== ===Seven-day week=== {{Main article|Seven-day week}} By [[synecdoche]] (naming the whole for a part), in Jewish sources by the time of the [[Septuagint]], the term "Sabbath" ([[Greek language|Greek]] ''Sabbaton'', Strong's ''4521'') also came to mean an entire "[[se'nnight]]" or seven-day week, the interval between two weekly Sabbaths. [[Jesus]]'s [[parable]] of the [[Pharisee and the Publican]] ({{Bibleverse||Luke|18:9–14|KJV}}) describes the [[Pharisee]] as fasting "twice a week" ([[Greek language|Greek]] ''dis tou sabbatou'', literally, "Twice of the Sabbath"). Philo of Alexandria states in Decalogue XX. (96) The fourth commandment has reference to the sacred seventh day, that it may be passed in a sacred and holy manner. Now some states keep the holy festival only once in the month, counting from the new moon, as a day sacred to God; but the nation of the Jews keep every seventh day regularly, after each interval of six days; (97) and there is an account of events recorded in the history of the creation of the world, constituting a sufficient relation of the cause of this ordinance; for the sacred historian says, that the world was created in six days, and that on the seventh day God desisted from his works, and began to contemplate what he had so beautifully created; (98) therefore, he commanded the beings also who were destined to live in this state, to imitate God in this particular also, as well as in all others, applying themselves to their works for six days, but desisting from them and philosophising on the seventh day, and devoting their leisure to the contemplation of the things of nature, and considering whether in the preceding six days they have done anything which has not been holy, bringing their conduct before the judgment-seat of the soul, and subjecting it to a scrutiny, and making themselves give an account of all the things which they have said or done; the laws sitting by as assessors and joint inquirers, in order to the correcting of such errors as have been committed through carelessness, and to the guarding against any similar offences being hereafter repeated. ===High Sabbaths=== {{Main article|High Sabbaths}} "High Sabbaths" are observed by Jews and some Christians. Seven annual Biblical festivals, called ''miqra'' ("called assembly") in Hebrew and "High Sabbath" in English and serving as supplemental testimonies to Sabbath, are specified in the books of [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] and [[Deuteronomy]]; they do not necessarily fall on weekly Sabbath. Three occur in spring: the first and seventh days of [[Pesach]] ([[Christian observance of Passover|Passover]]), and [[Shavuot]] ([[Pentecost]]). Four occur in fall, in the seventh month, and are also called ''Shabbaton'': [[Rosh Hashanah]] ([[Feast of Trumpets (Christian holiday)|Trumpets]]); [[Yom Kippur]], "Sabbath of Sabbaths" ([[Christian observances of Yom Kippur|Atonement]]); and the first and eighth days of [[Sukkoth]] ([[Christian observances of Jewish holidays#Christian Feast of Tabernacles|Tabernacles]]). "High Sabbaths" is also often a synonym of "[[High Holy Days]]", viz., Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. === Shmita === ''[[Shmita]]'' ({{lang-he|שמטה}}, Strong's 8059 as ''sh<sup>e</sup>mittah'', literally "release"), also called sabbatical year, is the seventh (שביעי, Strong's 7637 as ''sh<sup>e</sup>biy'iy'') year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by [[Torah]] for the [[Land of Israel]], relatively little observed in Biblical tradition, but still observed in contemporary [[Judaism]]. During ''Shmita'', the land is left to lie [[fallow]] and all agricultural activity, including plowing, planting, pruning and harvesting, is forbidden by Torah and [[halakha|Jewish law]]. By tradition, other cultivation techniques (such as watering, fertilizing, weeding, spraying, trimming and mowing) may be performed as preventive measures only, not to improve the growth of trees or plants; additionally, whatever fruits grow of their own accord during that year are deemed ''hefker'' (ownerless), not for the landowner but for the poor, the stranger, and the beasts of the field; these fruits may be picked by anyone. A variety of laws also apply to the sale, consumption and disposal of ''Shmita'' produce. When the year ended, all debts, except those of foreigners, were to be remitted ({{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|15:1–11|KJV}}); in similar fashion, Torah requires a slave who had worked for six years to go free in the seventh year. [[Leviticus]] 25 promises bountiful harvests to those who observe ''Shmita'', and describes its observance as a test of religious faith. The term ''Shmita'' is translated "release" five times in the [[Book of Deuteronomy]] (from the root שמט, ''shamat'', "''desist'', ''remit''", 8058). ===Babylonian rest days=== {{Main article|Babylonian calendar#Days|Shappatum}} {{unreferenced section|date=December 2022}} Counting from the [[new moon]], the Babylonians celebrated the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th as "holy-days", also called "evil days" (meaning "unsuitable" for prohibited activities). On these days officials were prohibited from various activities and common men were forbidden to "make a wish", and at least the 28th was known as a "rest-day". On each of them, offerings were made to a different god and goddess. Tablets from the 6th-century BCE reigns of [[Cyrus the Great]] and [[Cambyses II|Cambyses]] indicate these dates were sometimes approximate. The [[lunation]] of 29 or 30 days basically contained three [[seven-day week]]s, and a final week of nine or ten days inclusive, breaking the continuous seven-day cycle. The Babylonians additionally celebrated the 19th as a special "evil day", the "day of anger", because it was roughly the 49th day of the (preceding) month, completing a "week of weeks", also with sacrifices and prohibitions.<ref>{{cite book|author=Pinches, T.G.|editor=Hastings, James|others=Selbie, John A., contrib|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|year=1919|pages=889–891|chapter=Sabbath (Babylonian)|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofr10hast_0/page/888/mode/2up}}</ref> Difficulties with [[Friedrich Delitzsch]]'s [[origin theory]] connecting Hebrew ''[[Shabbat]]'' with the Babylonian [[lunar cycle]] include reconciling the differences between an unbroken week and a lunar week, and explaining the absence of texts naming the lunar week as ''Shabbat'' in any language. Reconstruction of a broken tablet seems to define the rarely attested Babylonian [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] word ''Sapattu<sup>m</sup>'' or ''Sabattu<sup>m</sup>'' as the [[full moon]]: this word is cognate or merged with Hebrew ''Shabbat'', but is monthly rather than weekly. It is regarded as a form of [[Sumer]]ian ''sa-bat'' ("mid-rest"), attested in [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] as ''um nuh libbi'' ("day of mid-repose"). This conclusion is a contextual restoration of the damaged [[Enûma Eliš]] [[creation mythos]], which is read as: "[Sa]pattu shalt thou then encounter, mid[month]ly." The [[pentecontad calendar]], thought to be of [[Amorite]] origin, includes a period known to [[Babylonia]]ns as ''Shappatum''. The year is broken down into seven periods of fifty days (made up of seven weeks of seven days, containing seven weekly Sabbaths, and an extra fiftieth day, known as the ''atzeret''), plus an annual supplement of fifteen or sixteen days, called ''Shappatum'', the period of harvest time at the end of each year. Identified and reconstructed by Hildegaard and Julius Lewy in the 1940s, the calendar's use dates back to at least the 3rd millennium BCE in Western [[Mesopotamia]] and surrounding areas; it was used by the [[Canaan]]ite tribes, thought by some to have been used by the [[Israelite]]s prior to [[King Solomon]], and related to the [[liturgical]] calendar of the [[Essene]]s at [[Qumran]]. Used well into the modern age, forms of it have been found in [[Nestorianism]] and among the [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] ''[[fellaheen]]''. Julius Morgenstern believed that the calendar of the [[Jubilees]] had ancient origins as a somewhat modified survival of the pentecontad calendar. ===Buddhist rest day=== {{Main article|Uposatha}} The ''Uposatha'' has been observed since [[Gautama Buddha]]'s time (500 BCE), and is still being kept today in [[Theravada Buddhist]] countries. It occurs every seven or eight days, in accordance with the four phases of the moon. Buddha taught that ''Uposatha'' is for "the cleansing of the defiled mind", resulting in inner calm and joy. On this day, [[Śrāvaka|disciples]] and [[monk]]s intensify their practice, deepen their knowledge, and express communal commitment through millennia-old acts of lay-monastic reciprocity. {{details|Wan Phra}} [[Thai Chinese]] likewise observe their Sabbaths and [[traditional Chinese holidays]] according to lunar phases, but not on exactly the same days as ''Uposatha''. These Sabbaths cycle through the month with respect to the [[Thai solar calendar]], so common Thai calendars incorporate Thai and [[Chinese calendar]] lunar dates, as well as ''Uposatha'' dates, for [[religion|religious]] purposes. ===Cherokee rest days=== {{unreferenced section|date=December 2022}} The first day of the [[new moon]], beginning at sunrise, is a [[holiday]] of [[leisure|quiet reflection]] and [[prayer]] among the [[Cherokee]]. Monthly [[fasting]] is encouraged, for up to four days. Work, cooking, sex and childbirth were also prohibited during the empty moon days, called "un-time" or "non-days"; childbirth during these days was considered unlucky. The Cherokee [[new year]], the "great new moon" or "Hunting Moon", is the first new moon in [[autumn]], after the setting of the [[Pleiades]] star cluster and around the time of the [[Leonids]] meteoric shower. ===Sabbath as Saturday=== {{details|Saturday}} {{unreferenced section|date=December 2022}} One [[folk tradition]] in English is the widespread use of "Sabbath" as a synonym of midnight-to-midnight "Saturday" (literally, [[Saturn]]'s day in at least a dozen languages): this is a simplification of the use of "Sabbath" in other religious contexts, where the two do not coincide. (Using midnight instead of sundown as delimiter dates back to the [[Roman Empire]].) In over thirty other languages, the [[week-day names|common name]] for this day in the [[seven-day week]] is a cognate of "Sabbath". "[[Sabbatini]]", originally "Sabbadini", often "Sabatini", etc., is a very frequent Italian name form ("[[Christodoulos Sabbatos|Sabbatos]]" is the Greek form), indicating a family whose ancestor was born on Saturday, Italian ''sabato''; "Domenico" indicated birth on Sunday. In [[vampire hunter]] lore, people born on Saturday were specially designated as ''sabbatianoí'' in [[Greek language|Greek]] and ''sâbotnichavi'' in [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] (rendered in English as "Sabbatarians"). It was also believed in the [[Balkans]] that someone born on a Saturday could see a [[vampire]] when it was otherwise invisible. ===Wicca=== {{See also|Sabbat|Esbat|Witches' Sabbath}} {{unreferenced section|date=December 2022}} The annual cycle of the Earth's seasons is called the Wheel of the Year in [[Wicca]] and [[neopaganism]]. Eight [[sabbat]]s (occasionally "sabbaths", or "Sun sabbats") are spaced at approximately even intervals throughout the year. [[Samhain]], which coincides with [[Halloween]], is considered the first sabbat of the year. An esbat is a ritual observance of the [[full moon]] in Wicca and neopaganism. Some groups extend the esbat to include the dark moon and the first and last quarters. "Esbat" and "sabbat" are distinct and are probably not [[cognate]] terms, although an esbat is also called "moon sabbat". European records from the [[Middle Ages]] to the 17th century or later also place Witches' Sabbaths on similar dates to sabbats in modern Wicca, but with some disagreement; medieval reports of sabbat activity are generally not firsthand and may be imaginative, but many persons were accused of, or tried for, taking part in sabbats. ===Unification Church=== {{See also|Ahn Shi Il}} {{unreferenced section|date=December 2022}} The [[Unification Church]] has a regular day of worship on Sunday, but every eight days Unificationists celebrate the day of Ahn Shi Il, considered as Sabbath but cycling among the weekdays of the Gregorian calendar. The [[Family Pledge]], formerly recited at 5:00 a.m. on Sundays, was moved to Ahn Shi Il in 1994 and includes eight verses containing the phrase "by centering on true love". ===Baháʼí Faith=== {{See also|Baháʼí calendar}} The day of rest in the [[Baháʼí Faith]] is Friday.<ref>{{cite book | editor-last = Hornby|editor-first=Helen | year = 1983 | title = Lights of Guidance: A Baháʼí Reference File | publisher = Baháʼí Publishing Trust | location = [[New Delhi, India]] | isbn = 978-81-85091-46-4 | url = http://bahai-library.com/hornby_lights_guidance&chapter=2#n372 | page = 109 | quote = III. Baháʼí: E. Miscellaneous Subjects: 372. Friday is Day of Rest in Baháʼí Calendar. | access-date = 2009-03-15}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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