Fridays

I’ve always loved Fridays. I was born on a Friday and have been looking forward to these exceptional days ever since.

As a child growing up in a Catholic family in the 1950s, I asked the same question then as I do now: How can giving up meat be viewed as a sacrifice? My mother cooked all my favorite meals on meatless Fridays; home made macaroni and cheese, fish fillets topped with buttered crumbs, tuna casserole. And to top that off, bedtime was extended. I viewed staying up late as one of the best perks of adulthood.

Fridays continue to charm. The concept of a seven day week is, of course, totally arbitrary, being without any astronomical underpinnings. Nothing goes around anything. Perhaps the week was invented to accommodate the deeply felt human need for T.G.I.F. .

Friday is named after my all time favorite mythological figure, Freyja (fray ya),  the Norse goddess of love, beauty, battle and magic. She was the leader of the Valkyries and the strongest female figure in the Nordic pantheon of superheroes. Freyja was wife to Od (who mysteriously disappeared) and mistress to many. She broached no nonsense from guy gods but made love to four dwarfs who crafted her magical necklace named Brisingamen. Freyja wept tears of gold which turned to amber if they fell into the sea.

Freyja’s mode of transportation was stellar: she had a chariot pulled by two large gray…some say blue…cats. These fabulous feline totems were named Bygul (bee gool) and Trjegul (tree gool). Today’s popular image of a witch with a black cat originates from Freyja and her cats. She is the goddess of cats and those who care for them.

So when Friday rolls around, relax, anticipate the weekend, slowly eat a lovely dinner and raise a glass to Freyja and her cats. All those other love goddesses, Venus, Aphrodite, Lakshmi and Erzulie must be jealous. They don’t get a cat chariot.

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3 thoughts on “Fridays”

  1. Sweet! I cannot see Pi pulling a chariot, but his brother Bear at nearly 17# probably could and would!
    He especially loves to pull food bowls out from under his fellow cat’s noses until they end up right under his own nose.

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  2. Anne, we actually have two beautiful gray cats in the Tooley cat family, Pi and Guy. I don’t think they are into pulling chariots, though.

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