Sunday

For centuries Sunday has had a distinct set of boundaries and meanings for children growing up in Catholic and Protestant households and nations. As styles of religious practice changed over time, so did proscriptions for Sunday observances. Broadly speaking, before the Protestant Reformation there was little difference between Sundays and other days, but afterward both Catholics and Protestants engaged in a reformation of the calendar that resulted in a regular rhythm of six days work and one day's rest (Sunday). Children's activities did not escape from this new emphasis on Sunday as a day strictly reserved for religious observance and instruction, thus giving rise to the oft-heard youthful lament about the tedium of Sundays.

Throughout the eighteenth century children were expected to observe Sunday in the same manner as adults, that is, to refrain from all but religious thoughts and actions; but in the early nineteenth century, shifting attitudes toward religion, family relations, and child rearing resulted in the development of new understandings about the Sundays of children. These new attitudes emphasized the belief that children had different religious and recreational needs than adults. In the United States, the resulting schematic applied most directly to the children of the middle classes, however many children of factory workers, African Americans, and of other marginalized Americans experienced Sundays that were distinct from the other days of the week, whether in attending services or gathering with family and friends or donning an outfit reserved for Sundays and special occasions.

In terms of religion, the most important and lasting development in the United States was the Sunday school. At first devoted to teaching the children of the urban poor to read and write, by the 1820s Sunday schools assumed a position as one of the central Protestant institutions devoted to inculcating religious literacy in children. Rising in large part out of the ferment of the Second Great Awakening, a nationwide religious revival that gave primacy to the centrality of personal conversion, the Sunday school movement at first aimed to foment religious awakening in the nation's youth. Soon, however, it settled into a complacent form of mostly nondenominational religious education, one that continues to inform American religious experience into the twenty-first century. Despite the recognition that children had special religious needs, it was still expected that they sit attentively through services (an expectation that only diminished in the second half of the twentieth century). Parents continued to take part in their children's religious-oriented education, overseeing family prayer and bible study at home. During the 1820s and 1830s, they were encouraged to let their children play on Sunday (which was in great contrast to their own childhood Sundays), but to sanctify this play with religiously oriented reading, games, and toys. By mid-century, Bible picture puzzles, inexpensive Bible books, Sunday reading, Christian-oriented games and toys (such as the Noah's Ark) were available through mail-order houses. Observant households witnessed children putting their everyday books and toys away Saturday night in preparation for a Sunday of special experiences, books, and playthings. As such, the theory went, children would learn to love Sunday, and consequently become committed Christians.

During the decades after the Civil War the emphasis on religious education and play dilated into a widespread acceptance of certain kinds of Sunday recreation, especially family-oriented recreation. As more and more men engaged in paid labor outside of the home, Sunday became "Daddy's Day with Baby" (as went the refrain of one popular song). As such, many began to emphasize family togetherness and recreation, often at the expense of religious observances. After midcentury, the Sunday dinner became a fixture in many households, while excursions of many varieties, including the uncomplicated Sunday drive, provided much desired and needed change for adults and children alike. Entrepreneurs met the demand for Sunday entertainment, especially that which was child-centered. Picnic grounds, beach resorts, and amusement parks all catered to the special needs of children with merry-go-rounds, pony rides, and such. Trolleys, railroads, steamships, and other forms of mass transportation did vigorous business on Sundays, often due to the patronage of large family groups. Publishers of the Sunday newspaper, whose widespread introduction in the 1880s elicited scorn and condemnation, also recognized the special needs of children, first with children's sections, and then, beginning in the 1900s, with the comics insert. In the twentieth century radio and television producers fashioned special shows for children's Sunday afternoons, such as The Wide World of Disney and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. The church, the family, and the market, then, have recognized Sunday as an unique space of time in the lives of children, and have sought in various ways to cater to their needs.

See also: Birthday; Halloween; Parades; Vacations; Zoos.

bibliography

Boylan, Anne. 1988. Sunday School. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

McCrossen, Alexis. 2000. Holy Day, Holiday: The American Sunday. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

McDannell, Colleen. 1986. The Christian Home in Victorian America, 1840–1900. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Taves, Ann. 1986. The Household of Faith. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

Alexis McCrossen

Sunday. Sunday replaced the Jewish Sabbath mainly in commemoration of Christ's Resurrection on this day. Already in NT times St Paul and the Christians of Troas assembled on the first day of the week ‘to break bread’ (Acts 20: 7), and in Rev. (1: 10) it is called ‘the Lord's day’.

The observance of Sunday as a day of rest began to be regulated by ecclesiastical legislation early in the 4th cent., and in 321 Constantine forbade townspeople to work on Sundays, though permitting farm labour. From the 6th to the 13th cent. ecclesiastical legislation became stricter, also enforcing attendance at Mass; it was supported by the infliction of severe penalties by the civil authorities. From the 13th cent. dispensations became common. According to current RC canon law, the faithful are normally obliged to hear Mass on Sunday or on the previous evening and to abstain from ‘work or business that would inhibit the worship to be given to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, or the due relaxation of mind and body’.

The Protestant Churches did not at first introduce special Sunday legislation, but the abuse of Sunday led to a reaction in some places and the development of Sabbatarianism (q.v.). In the 19th cent. Sunday was still mainly devoted to the duties of piety, but the secularization of life in the 20th cent. reduced its religious observance. Increased leisure in the Western world has been accompanied by pressure to abolish restrictions on both recreational and commercial activities on Sundays.

Sunday For Christians, the first day of the week. The Greeks and Romans knew of seven planets, and named the days of the week after them: dies solis was one day, as was dies martis, etc. Christians at first used the same names as the Jews, so that the last day of the week was the Sabbath and Friday was the eve of the Sabbath. From the 4th cent. CE the Church adopted the names of the planetary week and the rich symbolism surrounding the sun and its light could be appropriate to the Church which worshipped Christ, the true sun, on ‘the Lord's Day’, which had been the name used in the NT period (Rev. 1: 10). The Easter narratives of the gospels (Mark 16: 2; Matt. 28: 1; Luke 24: 1; John 20: 1) all speak of the ‘first day of the week’. A week later, the eighth day (John 20: 26) was the next Sunday.

Christians first began to worship on Sunday rather than on the Sabbath quite soon. This is suggested by the description of Paul at Troas (Acts 20: 7–12), confirmed by the Didache (14: 1) and by Ignatius. The communities probably met in the evening, following the Easter traditions (e.g. Luke 24: 29).

Sunday the day of the week before Monday and following Saturday, observed by Christians as a day of rest and religious worship and (together with Saturday) forming part of the weekend. Recorded in Old English as Sunnandæg ‘day of the sun’, the name is a translation of Latin dies solis.
Sunday school a class held on Sundays to teach children about Christianity; such schools are now intended only for religious instruction, but originally also taught some secular subjects.
Sunday's child a child born on Sunday, traditionally greatly blessed or favoured; the belief is the culmination of the traditional rhyme Monday's child is fair of face.

See also Care Sunday at care, Egg Sunday at egg, a month of Sundays, Stir-up Sunday at stir.

Sun·day / ˈsənˌdā/ • n. the day of the week before Monday and following Saturday, observed by Christians as a day of rest and religious worship and (together with Saturday) forming part of the weekend: they left town on Sunday many people work on Sundays | [as adj.] Sunday evening. • adv. on Sunday: the concert will be held Sunday. ∎  (Sundays) on Sundays; each Sunday: the program is repeated Sundays at 9 p.m.

Sunday. As the Christian weekly day of worship it may perhaps be attested in the New Testament (Acts 20. 7; Revelations 1. 10: see LORD'S DAY), but emerges clearly in Rome in the 2nd cent. It was early understood as a weekly commemoration of Christ's resurrection on the first day of the week, but it may also owe something to the early Christians' desire to distance themselves from Jewish customs and worship on a day other than the Sabbath.

Sunday OE. sunnandæġ (Nhb. sunnadæġ) = OS. sunnondag, OHG. sunnuntag (Du. zondag, G. sonntag), ON. sunnudagr; Gmc. tr. of L. diēs sōlis.

Sunday see Sabbath ; week .

Sunday •Allende, duende •Wednesday •heyday, mayday, payday •bidet • weekday • Halliday • holiday •Friday • Hobday • washday • Corday •magna cum laude, summa cum laude •Daudet, démodé •noonday • Tuesday •Domesday, doomsday •Yaoundé • someday •Monday, sundae, Sunday •Muscadet • workaday • faraday •Saturday • yesterday • workday •birthday • Thursday