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by ksec·4h ago·view on hn ↗
Thank you for the submission. I have long wondered if in the old days we had weekend off, and did we just work continuously 365 days?

It is not that working 365 days is hard. It is the job in today's world are very different, Muti tasking, context switching and anything but simple even in the lowest rank.

This is mentally tiring and I have also wondered if it is a recent thing. My argument is that cutting cost over the past 20 - 30 years meant what used to be a 5 person's job is now a 1 to 2 person job.

3 comments
On a farm there's always work, and most were farming or similar back then.

An old farmer I know let me in on his trick: don't work so hard. He said young and inexperienced folks would work way too hard, ie put in too much effort, and get exhausted quickly. Instead lower the effort so it's sustainable. Move slower, don't lift near your max and so on.

In the past, a professional job might mean extended periods of travel by rail etc with little work to do. A small acreage farmer has to wait for plants to grow.

The advent of factories with limitless and constant demand for labor is a new development of the industrial revolution.

Even on a small farm there is always work to do.

That doesn't mean that there isn't any downtime though. Most activity would be confined to daylight hours if nothing else. You'd probably do less on rainy days, and avoid hard work during the peak heat hours in the summer.

Jewish, Christian, and Islam have a Sabbath.

Not sure what anyone else did.

Lots of holidays, especially in places with multiple calendars (lunar/solar/etc).
> Lots of holidays, especially in places with multiple calendars (lunar/solar/etc).

And in Catholic cultures (historically):

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_day

The English word "holiday" comes from "holy day" after all.

Because Moses asked Pharaoh for a day off and Pharaoh said no, get back to work.
Not really a day of rest since you have to go to <place of worship>
Considering what work looked like in even the 18th century it was indeed rest in comparison.
Going to church is equivalent to watching tv, its not work.
Having to keep up social appearances within an accepted range and suppressing ideas and behavior that conflict with rules imposed by a religious organization does not sound relaxing to me like watching TV does. My white collar labor is less stressful to me than religious strictures would be.
People didn’t have much more to do back then. There was no TV.