Originally Posted by
CFTraveler
They did, but seasons made nights longer, and people didn't sleep more. Instead they divided their sleep in 'first sleep' and 'second sleep' (you can find offhand comments about this in medieval plays, some of Shakespeare's, for example) and actually had a 'waking' intermission in which they got together and had light meals or read in bed- that sort of thing.
The 5 day work week came thanks to christianity, which dictated that the Sabbath must be 'set aside for prayer.'. For the Jewish people the Sabbath is Saturday (Sabado is Saturday in spanish)(well, actually, it starts Friday night at Sundown) but when the germanic tribes declared Sunday to be God's day, then Sunday 'became' the Sabbath (imperialism, lol) and people decided to call it 'the weekend'. And not work.
But we don't really follow this because of belief, more like habit, and the desire not to be slaves. You can taylor your workweek any way you like if you have your own business, but it's not as easy as it looks.
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