Marketday is the first day of the week between
Sunday and
Feastday. It is the day for going to the market, to stock up on groceries and essentials. Marketday is an important day for merchants and
costermongers. Many farmers and artisan food producers will only go in to market their goods on Marketday, and inn some cities unlicensed street vendors are
only allowed to operate on Marketday.
Argosian Values
Marketday is one of the weekdays that reflect the values of the
Argosian Empire. While standardization was the primary goal of
Viktus'
Calendar, there was a clear attempt to guide the masses to what he considered a wholesome life. The early pamphlets and
annuals disemminated by the Argosian government make no attempt to hide this.
In the Citizens Guide to Household Management, an annual made in collaboration with the Guild of Domestics, Marketday is described as the ideal day for doing the bulk of the weekly shopping. The annual extolls the virtues of a preplanned trip to the market for both the wallet and the gut. It also reminds the housekeeper that consistent Marketday shopping would clear the streets of pesky hawkers on most weekdays and therefore reduce noise pollution.
Emytology
Numbered Days of the Week
In the
Dwarven languages the weekdays are named after their number. Historically Marketday was counted the second day of the dwarven week. This is still reflected in
Sirenic , Δευτέρή (
c:Defteri), is derived from δεύτερος (
c:défteros) meaning "second".
In
Storan the weekdays have been shuffled to match the Argosian calendar. What they used to call Secunda ("Second") is now called Dominica, a shortened version of Dies ("Day") Dominus ("Lord, Master, God").
Days named after Lunar Phases
Only the
Low Elven languages use a structure similar to the Argosian weeks, adapting the old names of the weeks in the High Elven calendar to weekdays. Croîdi ("Crescentday") is the first day of the week, just like Marketday. Croîdi is shortened from Croissant Díes after the Croissant de lune ("Crescent Moon") and uses the High Elven root word croître ("to increase/grow")
The other Elven languages usually follow either the
High Elven Calendar, in which the weeks follow the phase of the moon and do not correlate to the weekdays of the
Argosian Calendar.
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