Saturday traditions

Saturday around the world

Saturday is the seventh day, and for Jews, Shabbat, from Friday sunset to Saturday night, a day without work, devoted to prayer, study, rest and family meals. The Seventh-day Adventist and some other Christian churches keep Saturday as the Sabbath. In Ashkenazi Jewish homes the lunch includes cholent, a stew kept warm overnight, and in Sephardi homes a similar dish is called dafina or hamin. In Hindu practice, Saturday belongs to Shani, the planet Saturn, and many people fast, give sesame oil and iron, and visit Hanuman and Shani temples. In Brazil, feijoada, a black bean and pork stew, is the traditional Saturday lunch. In the Orthodox world, Saturdays are Soul Saturdays, on which the dead are remembered with prayers and a wheat dish, kolyva.

Customs of Saturday

• Shabbat 🇮🇱🇺🇸🇬🇧🇫🇷🇦🇷: The Jewish day of rest, with prayer, study and festive meals.
• Sabbath in Christianity 🇺🇸🇦🇺🇧🇷🇰🇪: Seventh-day Adventists and others observe Saturday as the day of rest and worship.
• Cholent 🇮🇱🇺🇸🇵🇱🇭🇺: The slow-cooked Shabbat stew, set on to cook before sundown and eaten on Saturday lunch.
• Shani 🇮🇳🇳🇵: The god of Saturn, whose Saturday is marked with sesame oil lamps and offerings of black sesame and iron.
• Feijoada 🇧🇷🇵🇹: The black bean stew that is the traditional Saturday lunch in Brazil.
• Soul Saturday 🇬🇷🇷🇺🇷🇸🇷🇴🇺🇦: The Orthodox Saturdays on which prayers and kolyva are offered for the departed.
• Hamin 🇲🇦🇪🇸🇮🇱: The Sephardi Sabbath stew of North Africa and Spain, also called dafina.

More on Saturday

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