Tuesday

(Mangalvar) The third day of the week,
presided over by the planet Mars
(Mangal). The planet Mars is deemed
inauspicious, both because of its red
color (reminiscent of blood) and
because of its associations with war and
disorder. Tuesday is widely considered
an unlucky day, and many people
abstain from certain kinds of activity on
it. Travel is particularly discouraged
unless absolutely necessary. Cutting the
hair and beard is also discouraged, and
in much of northern India, barbers take
Tuesday off. To counter the day’s potential inauspiciousness, many people also
perform rites of protection, such as
worshiping strong protective deities
such as Hanuman—who is close
enough to human beings to understand
the problems they face, but divine
enough to be able to protect them.
Paradoxically, the literal meaning of the
name for Tuesday is the “auspicious”
(mangal) day. Giving it this euphemistic
name may simply be a bit of reverse
magic; that if one calls it the lucky day, it
may, in fact, turn out to be.