Re-claiming Friday the 13th and Other Tidbits by Janet Maika’i Rudolph

I am struck by how language affects our thoughts, values and even our actions. One standout for me is Friday the 13^th which is a day accused of being cursed and holding bad luck in modern beliefs. There is even a series of horror films created in the date’s honor. But why has this date been declared so negative?  Like so much, the answer is that it is a suppression of women and our strength. Although I have heard different explanations for its meaning, my favorite is this; there are 13 moons in a solar year. That means that a woman will menstruate 13 times in that solar year. Thirteen is a symbol of women’s power. And Friday? Friday is the only day of the week named for a Goddess. In English it is Freya’s day named in honor of the Norse Goddess of love. In Spanish it is viernes, in French vendredi, both named for Freya’s counterpart Venus. I present to you that this makes it an extremely powerful day. Perhaps a horror for misogynists but for we women a day to celebrate.

I have also been thinking about the roots of the word “history” – his story.  Many in feminist communities, including here at FAR, counter it with “herstory” – her story. But truly our past is not broken up into genders for the arc of the past affects us all, perhaps differently but all of us nevertheless. We all breathe the same air, live under a culture’s laws, etc.  … Here are some names I have been playing around with as replacements: Ancestorstory.  Ourstory. Hustory.   

 I like the idea of Ancsestorstory best for its meaning and honoring of those who came before us. It also reflects our commonality. But in English it is an awkward word and ancestry on its own has come to mean a personal lineage which can be divisive. Ourstory is inclusive but in our present world that will drive backlash. I like hustory (at least if spell check will let me use it). Hu is a magical word that I wrote previously about in a post called The Sacred HU (you can read it here. )

Hu is a name that has been used for ages as well as in all corners of the world for the divine. It spans time and place. Here is what Sufi musician and mystic Hazrat Inayat Khan wrote about the hu syllable:

The Supreme Being has been called by various names in different languages, but the mystics have known him as Hu, the natural name, not manmade, the only name of the Nameless, which all nature constantly proclaims. The sound of hu is most sacred. . . The word hu is the spirit of all sounds and of all words, and is hidden within them all, as the spirit is in the body. It does not belong to any language, but no language can help belonging to it. This alone is the true name of God, a name that no people and no religion can claim as their own. Khan, Hazrat Inayat, The Music of Life, Omega Publications, 1998; 27.

But hu is also part of the word human, meaning us. Hu as a syllable spans both humanity and divinity. 

Of course, the “man” part of human also needs a fresh look. Here are some suggestions; hubeing. huexists. huperson. I think my favorite among this list is hubeing. It reflects the “beingness” of existence. The Hebrew LORD in the bible, YHVH, is a compilation of syllables that represent past, future and present states of beingness. The means there is already a tradition of representing divinity that is not tethered by linear time. Hubeing highlights this.

Shamans and mystics refer to all of creation as humanity. Some suggestions to replace this word: huhuity, hubeingness, huniverse. 

For this replacement I am torn between huniverse and huhuity. Huniverse represents the divine/human aspects of creation with hu as its beginning and universal as its completion. I also like huhuity as it mirrors the biblical creation story. The first hu stands for the divine, the second for we hubeings. It’s an all-inclusive word and brings together the “reflection” part of our existence here on Earth. We are all Hus! Hu of the divine, hu, in the image here on earth.

So God created man in His own image
Genesis 1:27

I know I am not the first to note how language affects our well-being. While I don’t think that this blogpost alone will create a groundswell of new vocabulary, I do think that in our personal lives, we need to change what is in our language as a foundation for making change in our world. One of the principles of Hawaiian Huna is “energy flows where attention goes.” Through the medium of language our unconscious attention is too often flowing in the direction of words which demean women (and other vulnerable populations as well). I would love to see a dictionary of huniveral or huhiuty words.

In the meantime Happy Lucky Friday the 13^th!  Light a candle, do a dance, send a blessing. Celebrate the power of women.