Quakers

===Calendar and church holidays===
Quakers traditionally use numbers for referencing the months and days of the week, something they call the plain calendar. This does not use names of calendar units derived from the names of pagan deities. The week begins with First Day (Sunday) and ends with Seventh Day (Saturday).<ref name="Lapsansky2003">{{Cite book |last1=Lapsansky |first1=Emma Jones |title=Quaker Aesthetics: Reflections on a Quaker Ethic in American Design and Consumption, 1720–1920 |date=26 January 2003 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3692-7 |page=65 |language=English}}</ref> Months run from First (January) to Twelfth (December). This rests on the terms used in the Bible, e.g. that Jesus Christ's followers went to the tomb early on the First Day.<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|16:2|NIV}}, {{bibleverse|Luke|24:1|NIV}}, {{bibleverse|John|20:1|NIV}}, {{bibleverse|John|20:19|NIV}}</ref> The plain calendar emerged in the 17th century in England in the [[Puritans|Puritan]] movement, but became closely identified with Friends by the end of the 1650s, and was commonly employed into the 20th century. It is less commonly found today. The term ''First Day School'' is commonly used for what is referred to by other churches as ''Sunday School''.

From 1155 to 1751, the English calendar (and that of Wales, Ireland and the British colonies overseas) marked March 25 as the first day of the year. For this reason, Quaker records of the 17th and early 18th centuries usually referred to March as First Month and February as Twelfth Month.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.swarthmore.edu/friends-historical-library/quaker-calendar|title = The Quaker Calendar|date = 8 July 2014}}</ref>

Like other Christian denominations derived from 16th-century [[Puritans|Puritanism]], many Friends eschew religious festivals (e.g. [[Christmas]], [[Lent]], or [[Easter]]), and believe that Christ's birth, [[crucifixion]] and [[resurrection]], should be marked every day of the year. For example, many Quakers feel that [[fasting]] in [[Lent]], but then eating in excess at other times of the year is [[hypocrisy]]. Many Quakers, rather than observing Lent, live a simple lifestyle all the year round (see ''[[Testimony of simplicity]]''). Such practices are called the ''testimony against times and seasons''.{{cn|date=October 2022}}

Some Friends are non-Sabbatarians, holding that "every day is the Lord's day", and that what should be done on a First Day should be done every day of the week, although Meeting for Worship is usually held on a First Day, after the advice first issued by the elders of [[Balby]] in 1656.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Dewsbury |first1=William |last2=Farnworth |first2=Richard |title=The Epistle from the Elders at Balby, 1656 |url=http://www.qhpress.org/texts/balby.html|access-date=5 October 2023}}</ref>