Friday, November 13, 2009

Lucky Day

Happy Friday 13th, all!

My sincerest apologies go out to those with paraskevidekatriaphobia, the fear of Friday the 13th, but I call this day lucky, if and only if because I enjoy superstition.

There is more than one story about the 'unluckyness' of this day. I will tell you the one I subscribe to.

For the longest time, there were 12 Norse gods, and things were good. Then, one day, a 13th god, Loki, came unto them. He caused mischief leading to the death of one of the good gods. And so it came to be said that 13 was unlucky, and that if 13 should dine together, one of their number would die within the year.

Another Norse claim was that the day Friday was the special providence of the goddess Frigga, but when the Christians came, Frigga was banished to the mountains and decried as a which. Since that day, it is said, on Fridays the spirits of this world still loyal to Frigga assemble on Fridays to plot the overthrow of those who oppose Frigga. Friday is called The Witches' Sabbath.

Thus, Friday the 13th couples the unluckiest of things.

All that being said, I like the day.

How about you? Do you find today unlucky? To which explanation of the curse do you hold?

5 comments:

  1. I've never had a problem with Friday the 13th. Well, when I was a kid I thought it was the worst day ever because my brother was born on a Friday the 13th.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cool! Thanks for this info! My brother loves Friday the 13th. He says it's his lucky day. I'm pretty neutral to the idea, but it's sort of funny because a lot of graduate students, including me, end up having to defend their PhD thesis on Friday the 13th. Luckily, mine was a couple of years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Susan -- That made me smile. I probably would have felt the same way. ;-)

    Davin -- That sounds like a slightly cruel day to assign for defending one's PhD. I can only imagine that it's the work of someone's skewed sense of humor.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So far this has been a very lucky Friday the 13th on our end. Oh boy, I probably just tempted fate right there, didn't I?

    ReplyDelete
  5. LnL -- Tempting fate can be fun, as long as you're willing to risk it.

    ReplyDelete