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eight-day or MARKET WEEK was a wholly ARTIFICIAL PERIOD OF TIME and was commonly
used among peoples who had suffiently advanced in civilization to have a regular trade. Explains
the Encyclopedia Britannica --

This is a WHOLLY ARTIFICIAL PERIOD of fairly frequent occurrence among peoples
who have suffiently advanced in civilization to have a regular trade. This is the
MARKET-WEEK, or the FIXED PERIOD OF DAYS in which a market is held. It varies
in length and lasts three days among the Muysca in Bogota, four among many West Afri-
can tribes, five in Central America, the East Indian Archipelago and old Assyria, six
among a tribe in Togo, EIGHT AMONG THE ANCIENT ROMANS (the "nundinae"),
and ten among the Inca people. On the MARKET DAY, especially in Africa, WORK IS
OFTEN FORBIDDEN, certain taboos are imposed, and RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES
PERFORMED (volume 4, article "Calendar").

Prior to, and for some three hundrd years after Julius Caesar, Roman calendars included
repeating cycles of letters A through H to represent their eight-day marketing week. Such days be-
came occasions to conduct business, meet in assembly, and proclaim laws or public decisions.
Eventually, they were identified either as "dies fasti," days (identified by the letter F) on which the
court of the urban prefect could convene and legal proceedings be initiated; "dies comitiales,"
days ( C) on which assemblies (comitia) could be summoned by the magistrates and business
brought before them; and "dies nefasti," days (N) on which judicial and civil business could not be
transacted. There also were days, although not identified as such in the calendar, in which activity
either was restricted in some way (dies religiosi), avoided altogether as unlucky (dies atri), or, if
immediately following the Calends, Nones, and Ides, tainted by historical association (dies
postriduani).

Among the dies nefasti were "feriae" (holidays), a word which, although plural in form
(like Calendae and Nonae), applied to a single day and comprised both private celebrations, such
as birthdays and days of mourning, as well as public ceremonies, such as the Lupercalia or Satur-
nalia. Public holidays included annual festivals, for which the dates were fixed and recorded (fer-
iae stativae); movable holidays (feriae conceptivae), which were determined every year; and
irregular olidays (feriae imperativae) that were proclaimed in the event of a crisis or to celebrate
a victory. The days which feriae were celebrated were "dies festi." Religious rites were per-
formed and lawsuits were prohibited, and there was the opportunity for rest, even for slaves. Al-
though not holidays themselves, "ludi" or public games also were celebrated then.

The eight-day weeks were totally independent of monthly divisions called Calends, Nones
and Ides. At the end of each year the A through H cycle was BROKEN. The first day of the next
year was always designated by the letter "A" to begin a NEW CYCLE, but the market day's letter
itself changed. Now when Caesar extended the year of 46 B.C. to 445 days and made other calen-
dar changes, the Roman eight-day week was NOT AFFECTED.

The "Christian Period"

This remained so until 321 A.D. when Emperor Constantine (the "Great") created the mod-
ern seven-day week by REDUCING THE ROMAN WEEKLY CYCLE BY ONE DAY. However,

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