Sunday

Sunday is the day of the week that comes before Monday. It is named after the Sun, which has never been informed and is not thought to mind.^[1]

Sunday is either the first day of the week or the last, depending on which calendar is consulted. The Joint Committee of Firsters and Lasters has met every Sunday since 1871 to settle the question, and has failed on each occasion, because the meeting was either too early or too late.

The Sunday Evening Constant

At 4:17 pm every Sunday, a person anywhere in the world will notice that the weekend is mostly over. This moment, known as the Sunday Evening Constant, has been measured in 46 countries and has never varied by more than a biscuit.^[2]

Attempts to delay the Constant by avoiding all clocks moved it to 3:40 pm, as participants spent the afternoon wondering what time it was.

Customs

• The Sunday lunch: the largest meal of the week, typically followed by the longest nap of the week, in that order and never the other way round.
• The Sunday drive: a journey with no destination, which returns to where it started, much like the week.
• Sunday best: clothes worn on Sunday because they are the best, and not worn on other days for the same reason.

At midnight Sunday ends and becomes, quite suddenly, Monday’s problem.^[3]

See also

• Monday – what Sunday becomes at midnight
• Sun – the namesake, unaware
• Time – runs out at 4:17 pm
• War of the Worlds broadcast – the night it aired, in 1938

References

1. Rest, R. (1871–present). Minutes of the Joint Committee of Firsters and Lasters. Ongoing.
2. Roast, B. (1998). “4:17”. Journal of Weekend Studies 7: 417.
3. Bureau of Weekdays (2026). “Handover Procedures, Sunday to Monday”.