What Day Was It?

Welcome to What Day Was It?

Have you ever wondered what day of the week you or your Great-great Grandparents were born on (I was curious, turns out I was born on a Tuesday)? What day of the week some global, historic event took place on or what day Chirstmas falls in the year 3000?

Maybe you're doing a history project and you want to really impress your teacher by giving them the day of the event; perhaps you need to remind yourself what day it was when you proposed...?

How it works

Use this simple Day of the Week Calculator below to find out what day of the week a specific date was or will be.

Select a Month, a Day and a Year and hit the button! πŸ‘πŸ½

Advertisement

The Number stuff

If you're a Math's or numbers fiend, here's a peek behind the curtain.

In modern web development, we use the built-in JavaScript Date object. However, behind the scenes, computers often use an algorithm called Zeller's Congruence.

Zeller's Congruence is a formula that calculates the day of the week for any Julian or Gregorian calendar date. The "simplified" version of the math looks like this:

h = (q + ⌊13(m+1)⁄5βŒ‹ + K + ⌊K⁄4βŒ‹ + ⌊J⁄4βŒ‹ βˆ’ 2J) mod 7
  • q: Day of the month.
  • m: Month (March=3, April=4... January and February are counted as months 13 and 14 of the previous year).
  • K: The year of the century (year mod 100).
  • J: The zero-based century (⌊year/100βŒ‹).

The result h gives a value that corresponds to the day (where 0 is Saturday, 1 is Sunday, etc.).

Advertisement

History of the days...

The seven-day week originated in ancient Babylon and was later adopted by the Romans. Most Western languages name the days after the "seven celestial bodies" visible to the naked eye: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn.

  • Monday: "Moon's Day." (Old English MōnandΓ¦g)
  • Tuesday: Named after Tiw, the Norse god of single-combat and law (associated with Mars)
  • Wednesday: Named after Woden (Odin), the primary Norse god (associated with Mercury)
  • Thursday: Named after Thor, the god of thunder (associated with Jupiter)
  • Friday: Named after Frigg (or Freya), the goddess of love (associated with Venus)
  • Saturday: Named after the Roman god Saturn.
  • Sunday: "Sun's Day." (Old English SunnandΓ¦g)

Advertisement

Copyright © 2026 What Day Was It, All Rights Reserved.
Site Designed & Built by Jack Randall WP