So there was little else to do on a Sunday afternoon but relax, enjoy the outdoors or take on some quiet pursuit. This is not to suggest that Europeans keep the Christian Sabbath because they are particularly devout Christians.
Evidence suggests otherwise.
European Sundays stand in sharp and painful contrast to the North American custom. Our shopping centers are often at their busiest on Sundays. Many who work the cash registers, the racks, the shelves, the shifts are Christian folk who don't worship when their time to work falls on a Sunday. Many worship and then hurry to the marketplace. He says that he knows he'll surrender profits to competitors by closing on a day when they don't, but it's worth the risk because of the good will it earns him.