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Friday the 13th, a lucky or unlucky day?

Being today is Friday the 13th, I thought it would be fitting to give a brief history of this rare but not uncommon day. (July of this year also has a Friday the 13th, as does June of 2008)

By some accounts, well at least one, Friday is considered a lucky day. Friday is Freya's day, the Norse goddess of love and fertility, and it was common to be married that day. It was also a day of worship among many cultures as it is also the day of Venus.

Freya, however, was considered a witch among Christian cultures, and thus the good association was deemed evil.

The fear of the number 13 comes about from the Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven, when in walked an uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness [and sunlight], with a mistletoe-tipped arrow.

Balder died and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was bad.1

But the combination of the two is believed to have started on Friday, October 13, 1307, when [all] the Knights Templar were simultaneously arrested in France, by agents of King Philip IV, [and tortured for heresy].2

So there you have it! What do you think? Lucky or unlucky?

I choose to think of it as a lucky day, in honor of the Norse Goddess Freya!

Besides, Tuesday the 26th has a lot more significance to me, as a bad luck day.
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Comments

Becky said…
That rascal Loki, what a Judas!

Friday in English means the Day of Freya and her lucky number is 13. She was pulled across the sky in her chariot by black cats.

Women worhshipped both Freya and cats. If a cat was seen at a wedding it was a sign of good luck. But alas, the pope observed thousands of women who worshipped both cats and Freya so they were burned at the stake. The women, not the cats.

Freya was demoted from fertility and love Goddess to a witch. Black cats are now bad luck and cats in general are not as well liked as the obedient, loyal, extremely intelligent dog.
8:13 AM
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