 carrerinyes says: Twelve gods were invited to a banquet at Valhalla. Loki, the Evil One, god of mischief, had been left off the guest list but crashed the party, bringing the total number of attendees to 13. True to character, Loki raised hell by inciting Hod, the blind god of winter, to attack Balder the Good, who was a favorite of the gods. Hod took a spear of mistletoe offered by Loki and obediently hurled it at Balder, killing him instantly. All Valhalla grieved. And although one might take the moral of this story to be "Beware of uninvited guests bearing mistletoe," the Norse themselves apparently concluded that 13 people at a dinner party is just plain bad luck. As if to prove the point, the Bible tells us there were exactly 13 present at the Last Supper. One of the dinner guests — er, disciples — betrayed Jesus Christ, setting the stage for the Crucifixion. Did I mention the Crucifixion took place on a Friday? LEGEND HAS IT: Never change your bed on Friday; it will bring bad dreams. Don't start a trip on Friday or you will have misfortune. If you cut your nails on Friday, you cut them for sorrow. Ships that set sail on a Friday will have bad luck – as in the tale of H.M.S. Friday ... One hundred years ago, the British government sought to quell once and for all the widespread superstition among seamen that setting sail on Fridays was unlucky. A special ship was commissioned, named "H.M.S. Friday." They laid her keel on a Friday, launched her on a Friday, selected her crew on a Friday and hired a man named Jim Friday to be her captain. To top it off, H.M.S. Friday embarked on her maiden voyage on a... That was an unlucky ship. In the Gylfaginning, part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the death of Baldr at the hands of Loki and Höð is described in detail. Balder was held to be the most handsome of the gods, but his parents, Oðin and Frigga, had the gift of prophecy and felt the air of tragic death about him. So Frigga made all living things promise not to harm Baldr - except the mistletoe, which she thught too young and weak to do any harm. It became a great sport for the other gods to throw things at Baldr since nothing would harm him. Loki, however, found out about the mistletoe being left out of the promise. He convinced blind Höð he was missing out on all the fun, gave him a dart made of mistletoe and gu... |
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