Who (or what) invented weekends?

[willo da wisp]

One of those weird questions that someone in the office asked, and no one actually knew the answer to:

Who invented weekends? Who decided that Saturday/Sunday are the traditional two days off, and Monday-Friday generally means work?

Consensus was that Sunday has been a traditionally religious day of rest and so it was a given, but how did Saturday get in the mix?

Sad I know, but now I am curious.

[Hanohtep]

I dunno, but we got taught in history about "Saint Monday" in the pre-industrial revolution era which was an unnofficial third day of the weekend. Most people were too hungover to work on a Monday so took it off citing religious reasons.

[Kajun]

Wikipedia says:

The weekend as a day of leisure is a rather modern invention. Before the industrial revolution the wage labour force was a minuscule fraction of the population. The day of the Sabbath was viewed as one dedicated to God, not one of relaxation, and strict prohibitions on permissible activities were enacted.

The French Revolutionary Calendar allowed decadi, one out of ten days, as a leisure day.

The early industrial period in Europe saw a six-day work week with only Sunday off, but some workers had no days off at all. Only the labour and workers rights movements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century saw a five day work week introduced as Saturday became a day of rest and relaxation. This movement began in England. In several languages, the word for weeked is an adaptation of weekend or the term "English week" is used for the five-days work week.