Post by kedigato on Feb 20, 2009 8:00:11 GMT
Lucky or unlucky, Friday is one of the most popular days in the week. TGIF is the commonly used acronym meaning "Thank Goodness It's Friday!". There is even a popular restaurant that goes by the name, claiming that whenever you eat there it is Friday. The love for the day is undoubtedly engendered by the fact that in the Western World it is the last workday of the week.
In predominantly Moslem countries, Friday is a holy day, a day to gather in the mosques at noon for prayers and to spend the day in religious contemplation.
The name of the day is derived from yet another Norse God (in this case a goddess), Frigga. She was believed to be the wife of Odin and was the goddess of marriage and the hearth. The Roman's had named this day for their goddess of beauty, Venus. They called it "dies veneris". When the Germanic tribes invaded England they imposed their goddess upon the day meant to honor Venus. The day was called frigedaeg, it has been corrupted over the centuries (since the 500's) to be "Friday".
Since early times a Friday that falls on the 13th day of a month has been thought to be unlucky. Historians posit that this may be because there were thirteen persons present at the Last Supper of Christ and that this number proved unlucky; the following day (a Friday) Jesus was crucified. Find out when Friday the 13th falls for the rest of the year.
The Friday crucifiction spawned another Eastertime holiday known as Good Friday. The appellation, "good", was likely a corruption of the word, "God". So that Good Friday was originally, God's Friday, the day Christians believe God showed his love for the world by relinquishing his son.
from indepthinfo.com
