Frīġedæġ

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday

Etymology

Frigg spinning the clouds, by John Charles Dollman

The name Friday comes from the Old English Frīġedæġ, meaning the "day of Frige". The same holds for Frīatag in Old High German, Freitag in Modern German and Vrijdag in Dutch.

The expected cognate name in Old Norse would be *friggjar-dagr. However, the name of Friday in Old Norse is frjá-dagr instead, indicating a loan of the weekday names from Low German. The modern Scandinavian form is Fredag in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish.

The word for Friday in most Romance languages is derived from Latin dies Veneris, "day of Venus" (a translation of Greek Aphrodites hemera) such as vendredi in French, venerdì in Italian, viernes in Spanish, divendres in Catalan, vennari in Corsican, and vineri in Romanian. This is also reflected in the p-Celtic Welsh language as dydd Gwener. An exception is Portuguese, also a Romance language, which uses the word sexta-feira, meaning "sixth day of liturgical celebration", derived from the Latin "feria sexta" used in religious texts where it was not allowed to consecrate days to pagan gods.
Most Slavic languages call Friday the "fifth (day)": Belarusian Пятніца, Bulgarian Петък, Czech pátek, Polish Piątek, Russian Пятница, Serbian петак, Croatian Petak, Slovene Petek, Slovak piatok, and Ukrainian П'ятниця. The Hungarian word péntek is a Slavic loanword.
In most of the varieties of Arabic, Friday is Jum'a-tul-Mubarak (or a derived variation of Jum'a), named for Jum'a.

In most of the Indian languages, Friday is Shukravar (or a derived variation of Sukravar), named for Shukra, the Sanskrit name of the planet Venus.

In Japanese, 金曜日 (きんようび, kinyoubi) is formed from the words 金星 (きんせい, "kinsei") meaning Venus (lit. Metal + Planet) and 曜日 (ようび, "youbi") meaning day (of the week).
In the Korean language, it is also 金曜日 (but pronounced as "kum yeo il") formed from "gold" + "day" from Koreanization of the Chinese characters).

Folklore

In some cultures, Friday is considered unlucky. This is particularly so in maritime circles; perhaps the most enduring sailing superstition is that it is unlucky to begin a voyage on a Friday. In the 19th century Admiral William Henry Smyth, writing in his nautical lexicon The Sailor's Word-Book, described Friday as

“

The Dies Infaustus, on which old seamen were desirous of not getting under weigh, as ill-omened.

”

(Dies Infaustus means "unlucky day"^.) This superstition is the root of the well-known urban legend of HMS Friday.

However, this superstition is not universal, notably in Scottish Gaelic culture:

"Though Friday has always been held an unlucky day in many Christian countries, still in the Hebrides it is supposed that it is a lucky day for sowing the seed. Good Friday in particular is a favourite day for potato planting—even strict Roman Catholics make a point of planting a bucketful on that day. Probably the idea is that as the Resurrection followed the Crucifixion, and Burial so too in the case of the seed, and after death will come life."

In modern times, Friday the 13th is considered to be especially unlucky, due to the conjunction of Friday with the unlucky number thirteen. Such a Friday may be called a "Black Friday".

In astrology, Friday is connected with the planet Venus. It is also connected with the Astrological signs Libra and Taurus.

Statistical anomaly

The use of the Gregorian calendar and its leap year system results in a small statistical anomaly, that the 13th of any month is slightly more likely to fall on a Friday than any of the other six days. The figures are 688/4800 (43/300) which is .1433333..., being greater than 1 in 7 by just 0.3%.
After the United States acquired Alaska from Russia in 1867, Friday, October 6, was immediately followed by Friday, October 18, adjusting to the adoption of the 1582 Gregorian calendar changes by the British colonies in 1752, and the shifting of the International Date Line. Prior to that change, Alaska began Russia's day, with the date line following the partially defined border between Russian Alaska and British North America, including the colony of British Columbia.

Religious observances

In Islam, Friday corresponds to Sunday in Christianity and Saturday in Judaism, as a holy day. Friday observance includes attendance at a mosque for congregation prayer or Salat AlJumu'ah. As well as a day of rest it is considered a day of peace and mercy - even condemning a slave is forbidden on a Friday under Muslim law. (see Jumu'ah).

Muslim Friday prayer at a mosque in Malaysia

According to some Islamic traditions, the day is stated to be the original holy day ordained by God, but that now Jews and Christians recognize the days after. In some Islamic countries, the week begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday, just like the Jewish week and the week in some Christian countries. In most other Islamic countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran the week begins on Saturday and ends on Friday. Friday is also the day of rest in the Bahá'í Faith.
In Christianity Good Friday is the Friday before Easter. It commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus.
Traditionally, Roman Catholics were obliged to refrain from eating the meat of land animals on Fridays, although fish was allowed. However, episcopal conferences are now authorized to allow some other form of penance to replace abstinence from meat. Many still choose the traditional form of Friday penance.
The 1983 Code of Canon Law states:

Canon 1250. The days and times of penance for the universal Church are each Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.

Canon 1251. Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Canon 1253. The Episcopal Conference can determine more particular ways in which fasting and abstinence are to be observed. In place of abstinence or fasting it can substitute, in whole or in part, other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.

Most Anglicans (particularly Anglo-Catholics) also practice abstinence either on all Fridays or on Fridays in Lent. More generally, traditional Anglican Prayer Books prescribe weekly Friday abstinence for all Anglicans.
The Eastern Orthodox Church continues to observe Fridays (as well as Wednesdays) as fast days throughout the year (with the exception of several fast-free periods during the year. Fasting on Fridays entails abstinence from meat or meat products (i.e., four-footed animals), poultry and dairy products (though fish is permitted). Unless a feast day occurs on a Friday, the Orthodox also abstain from using oil in their cooking and from alcoholic beverages (there is some debate over whether abstention from oil involves all cooking oil or only olive oil). For the Orthodox, Fridays throughout the year commemorate the Crucifixion of Christ and the Theotokos (Mother of God), especially as she stood by the foot of the cross. There are hymns in the Octoekhos which reflect this liturgically. These include Theotokia (hymns to the Mother of God) which are chanted on Wednesdays and Fridays called Stavrotheotokia ("Cross-Theotokia"). The dismissal at the end of services on Fridays begin with the words: "May Christ our true God, through the power of the precious and life-giving cross...."

Quakers traditionally refer to Friday as "Sixth Day" eschewing the pagan origins of the name. In Slavic countries, it is called "Fifth Day" (Polish piątek, Russian пятница – pyatnitsa).

In Hinduism, Special observances are practiced for goddesses, mainly Durga/Parvati/Gowri on Friday.

The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and lasts until nightfall on Saturday.
In Thailand, the color associated with Friday is blue, see Thai solar calendar.

Astrology

Friday is associated with the planet Venus and symbolized by that planet's symbol ♀.