In Nepal, Sunday is the 1st day of the week. This is the Vedic Week of 7 days represented by 7 planets with Sunday (Sun) followed by Monday (Moon) then Tuesday (Mars) and Wednesday (Mercury) then Thursday (Jupiter), Friday (Saturn). This is the pure Vedic calendar and is followed by Nepal today and co-incidentally Israel (for a similar but different reason I shall explain). India gave in to the might of British rule and Christian influence and made Monday their first day which most of the world today is following (99.9%). But it’s all wrong save Nepal and Israel (and not surprisingly the two countries have an amazingly good relation with a lot of Israelis living in Nepal doing many good projects here). In Jyotisha, Sun represents the soul, so our week should start with this sun-soul consciousness. If we start the week on the right foot (with excuse for the subtle pun as the right side of the body is indeed the solar or pingala side), then life will follow the right natural rhythms. In the same light (excuse the further pun as Jyotisha means the very light of God), Saturday which is ruled by Saturn which is the grates of all malefic in Jyotish should naturally be the day we take complete rest. In Judaism this tradition is very strong with observant Jews, Shabbat which falls on Saturday is a day of complete and utter rest, this is taken to an extreme in fact where virtually nothing will be done save rest, and eat. In Nepal, Saturday feels like Sunday in say Brittan for it is the day all shops are closed, much less traffic is there and the country takes rest for a day.
It is beautiful to see the Vedic week still alive upon this little planet, in our not so distant history this was the week of the whole world. Infact, Christianity had Saturday as their rest day until one Roman emperor decided for political reasons to separate the Christians from the Jews and hence made in Sunday. A grave mistake which we have all inherited in the world today for in the Christian dominated world Sunday is now the rest day as Europe and America rest on these days and being the money centers of the world, all else follow suite, with just Nepal and Israel a little more awake.
So on this beautiful Sunday (1st day of the week), here in the Himalayas I bid victory to the Vedic week. May it return again upon all the world.