Tuesday

Mars and Tyr

Western astrology gives Tuesday to Mars, with iron, red and the energies of action, courage, anger and defence. Ritual handbooks treat it as a day for protection and for the will, and some modern witches work protective rites on it. The English name comes from Tiw or Tyr, the Germanic god of law and war who lost a hand to the wolf Fenrir. The Roman identification with Mars is an equivalence made by the Romans and carried across into the Germanic languages, not a statement that the gods were the same.

Mangalvar, Hanuman and Durga

For many Hindu families Tuesday is the day of Hanuman, the monkey god of strength and devotion, and in some regions of Durga. Devotees fast, visit Hanuman temples, offer sindoor and jasmine oil and recite the Hanuman Chalisa. Astrologers treat Mars, Mangala, as a planet to be placated when it is poorly placed in a horoscope, and a Mars-related condition called manglik is still raised in some marriage matches, a practice that critics, including many Hindus, regard as superstition.

Unlucky Tuesday in Greece and Spain

In Greece and Cyprus Tuesday is the bad day, in part because Constantinople fell to the Ottomans on a Tuesday in 1453. Greeks avoid beginning projects, weddings and journeys on it. Spain has the saying that on a Tuesday one should neither marry nor set out on a voyage, and Tuesday the 13th, not Friday, is the date feared there. In these countries Friday the 13th is regarded as an ordinary Friday. Scholars read it as a reminder that superstitions are tied to local history and not to a single universal list.

Born on a Tuesday

The Akan name for a boy born on Tuesday is Kwabena, and for a girl Abena. In Burma Tuesday-born people belong to the lion, and in Thailand the colour is pink. In the English rhyme Tuesday's child is full of grace.

Entries tied to it

Friday the 13thThe article that also covers Tuesday the 13th.