Friday

Yesterday, 20th December was Friday

Most employees wait for this special day of the week – Friday. Even though most of them still have to work on that day, the afternoon is the beginning of the longed-for weekend. Most of the countries nowadays treat Friday as the fifth day of the week, and the last day of the work week. In some places, however, according to the biblical tradition, Friday is the sixth day of the week.

Etymology

Traditionally, Slavic languages use the name connected with Friday’s position in the week according to the ISO 8601 international standard. This means that the name is directly connected with number five or the adjective “fifth”. In Polish it is “piątek”; in Russian - “пятница, pyatnitsa”; in Czech - “pátek"; in Slovene - “petek”; and in Bosnian and Croatian - “petak.” Similarly, in the countries that count days starting with Sunday, Friday’s name is connected with number six: in Portuguese - “sexta-feira”; in Greek - “Πέμπτη, Pémpti.” Other languages, however, use the name associated with the tradition of naming days of the week after the names of planets and gods. This is what happened in most Romance languages. The Roman goddess of love - Venus - was believed to be the patron of the day that we now know as Friday. Today we can observe names connected with her in many languages: in Italian - “venerdì"; in French - “vendredi”; in Spanish - “viernes”; and in Sicilian - “vénniri.” There was also another goddess that inspired some languages for naming the day with her name – Frigg, the goddess of the Norse mythology. This is why many Germanic languages use the names such as: “Friday” (in English); “Freitag” (in German); or “fredag” (in Norwegian, Danish and Swedish).

Next days

Interesting facts

Friday in Modern Culture

Most of us associate Friday with the beginning of the weekend. People love this day so much that in many languages it has some special terms, such as the American acronym TGIF (“Thank God It’s Friday”). In the United Kingdom and Australia some people use another acronym: POETS Day, which means “Piss Off Early Tomorrow’s Saturday.” However, Friday is also an important and symbolical day in many religions of the world. In Christianity, Good Friday (the Friday before Easter) commemorates the most important religious event – the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Friday is such an important day, that many Roman Catholics refrain from eating meat on that day. In Islam, Friday is even more special. It starts on Thursday evening there, and ends on Friday evening, but it is perceived as the holy day – just like Sunday in Christianity, or Saturday (Sabbath) in Judaism. The Jewish Sabbath, on the other hand, starts right after sunset on Friday evening, and lasts until the next sunset. Apart from religion, there is also one special Friday throughout the year that is becoming more and more popular nowadays. It is called Black Friday, and it is the biggest shopping holiday in the United States, which is lately gaining popularity also in many other countries. It is the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, when shops offer highly promoted sales and open very early to welcome the customers waiting in front of the door even the night before. Friday like this can only be observed once a year, but there is another Friday that can be special every week. Casual Friday, also known as dress-down Friday, is the day when employees of big companies that require a special dress-code from their workers are allowed to relax the way they dress up for work. This custom is rooted in Aloha Friday that originated in Hawaii. Even though Friday can obviously be a very nice day, it is considered unlucky in some cultures. Most sailors believe that it is not a good day to start the passage. Especially when Friday is also the 13th day of the month, many people think that something bad can happen on that day. What is interesting, a Friday like this can also be called “Black Friday.”

Historical Fridays

Some Fridays in the history of the world were more special than others and should be remembered by the next generations. One of such Fridays was May 24, 1844, when Samuel Morse had sent the first ever telegraph message. 59 years later, on December 17, the Wright brothers’ first flight took place. The first time people had climbed Mount Everest was also Friday – May 29, 1953.