Many of us tend, I imagine, around New Year to be marking up our diaries and calendars with dates and events to remember in the coming year. We might as we do that note to ourselves sombre anniversaries of deaths or days somehow perceived as unlucky, be they ancient or indeed modern ( like Friday the thirteenth ).
Medieval people had a long list of days which were deemed inauspicious, such as Fridays and sometimes Mondays - rather like the modern Greek refusal to begin a new venture on a Tuesday, the day when Constantinople fell in 1453 - and inauspicious dates. There were according to one fifteenth century list forty five of these in any one year.
This research is summarised, with a list of these ominous dates, on the Medievalists.net website at In medieval times, there were ‘Perilous Days’
Don’t say you haven’t been warned….
No comments:
Post a Comment