Patch Picks: Five Friday Superstitions

If you’ve been looking forward to the weekend since Tuesday, we here at Clayton-Richmond Heights Patch have some bad news for you. You may think Friday is a day for casual wear around the office by day and drinking away your sorrows by night. But be extra careful if you shave before going out with friends or plan to get away with a cheap summer cruise. You could be setting yourself up for disaster.

Italy: Never shave on Friday
Italian men have cleverly engineered a set of superstitions that allows them to skip shaving during the weekend. “Shave on Friday, and there will be sorrow,” is pretty bad, but apparently if you shave on Sunday the devil will be with you all week. All the more reason to wear a beard.

Britain: Don’t sail on Friday
Sailors are a notoriously suspicious lot. Some say you can’t cut your hair or nails while at sea. Others say killing an albatross will bring you bad luck. Nearly all agree that setting sail on a Friday will doom a voyage. The next time you sneak off for a weekend at the lake and your canoe capsizes or you fall off a jetski, don’t blame it on the contents of your cooler. Blame it on the bad luck of sailing on Friday.

Germany:  Friday trials will land you in jail
It’s Friday night, and even the judge wants to get off work early and enjoy a drink. You could chalk up the judge’s reaction to the fact that you've landed in front of her three times in as many months, but it’s a lot easier to blame the day of the week.

Ireland: Fairies will get you
Fairies are fickle creatures who are easily bored and love nothing more than hearing strangers talk about them. They’re like the Paris Hilton of the mythological world. But if they overhear you say something bad about them, they’ll save up their rage all week and spend Friday unleashing their supernatural creativity instead of kicking back with a Guinness and complaining to their fairy friends. Their goal? To make your life miserable in every way possible.

Thailand: No funerals on Fridays
If you disregarded all the European warnings and shaved on Friday before your court appearance, your family ought to wait a few days before burying you. “Sook,” the Thai word for “Friday,” is phonetically the same as the Thai word for “Happy.” After everything you did to tempt fate, they may be relieved by your departure, but being good people, they don’t want to look overjoyed about it.