Just like walking under a ladder, crossing paths with a black cat or breaking a mirror, many people hold fast to the belief that Friday the 13th brings bad luck.
While Western cultures have historically associated the number 12 with completeness there are 12 days of Christmas , 12 months and zodiac signs, 12 labors of Hercules , 12 gods of Olympus and 12 tribes of Israel , just to name a few examples , its successor 13 has a long history as a sign of bad luck. The ancient Code of Hammurabi , for example, reportedly omitted a 13th law from its list of legal rules.
According to biblical tradition, 13 guests attended the Last Supper, held on Maundy Thursday, including Jesus and his 12 apostles one of whom, Judas, betrayed him.
The seating arrangement at the Last Supper is believed to have given rise to a longstanding Christian superstition that having 13 guests at a table was a bad omen—specifically, that it was courting death. In the lateth century, a New Yorker named Captain William Fowler sought to remove the enduring stigma surrounding the number 13—and particularly the unwritten rule about not having 13 guests at a dinner table—by founding an exclusive society called the Thirteen Club.
The group dined regularly on the 13th day of the month in room 13 of the Knickerbocker Cottage, a popular watering hole Fowler owned from to Four former U. An important milestone in the history of the Friday the 13th legend in particular not just the number 13 occurred in , with the publication of the novel Friday, the Thirteenth written by Thomas William Lawson.
The book told the story of a New York City stockbroker who plays on superstitions about the date to create chaos on Wall Street, and make a killing on the market. The horror movie Friday the 13th , released in , introduced the world to a hockey mask-wearing killer named Jason, and is perhaps the best-known example of the famous superstition in pop culture history.
The movie spawned multiple sequels, as well as comic books, novellas, video games, related merchandise and countless terrifying Halloween costumes. In Norse mythology, a dinner party of the gods was ruined by the 13th guest called Loki, who caused the world to be plunged into darkness. It seems the superstition has stuck. Some hotels will have no room 13, while a lot of tall buildings 'don't have' a 13th floor, jumping straight from 12 to Some airlines also refuse to have a row 13 in their planes too.
For hundreds of years, Friday has been considered the unluckiest day of the week. In Geoffrey Chaucer's famous Canterbury Tales, written in the 14th Century, he says "and on a Friday fell all this mischance".
In Britain, Friday was once known as Hangman's Day because it was usually when people who had been condemned to death would be hanged. But Good Friday - the day of Jesus Christ's crucifixion - is thought to be the only Friday that bucks the trend, hence its name.
If you're born on Good Friday you're thought to be lucky, while sailors, who are notoriously superstitious, would sometimes begin a long voyage on Good Friday because of its holy connections.
The combination of Friday and the number 13 as a day of particularly bad luck seems to be a relatively recent tradition - perhaps only about years old. There's even a special word for the fear of Friday 13th - paraskevidekatriaphobia. We've got a fear of trying to pronounce that word! Are you superstitious about Friday 13th? Has anything weird or unlucky ever happened to you on this unlucky day? Or perhaps you've had some good fortune and don't believe that it's unlucky at all!
Let us know in the comments below! Like crossing paths with a black cat and breaking a mirror, the notion of a day that can bring misfortune is deeply embedded -- even if believers can't quite explain why. There's even a name to describe the irrational dread of the date: paraskevidekatriaphobia -- a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a fear of the number While Friday the 13th may feel like a rare phenomenon, our Gregorian calendar means that the 13th of any month is slightly more likely to fall on a Friday than any other day of the week.
It is not, however, a universal superstition: In Greece and Spanish-speaking countries, it is Tuesday the 13th that is considered a day of bad luck, while in Italy, it is Friday the 17th that is met with fear. This month, however, there is only one in the calendar: Friday, the 13th of August.
The makings of a superstition. The Last Supper seemed to put a curse on the number The 13th and most infamous guest to arrive, Judas Iscariot, was the disciple who betrayed Jesus, leading to his crucifixion.
Like many superstitions that have evolved over time and across cultures, it is difficult to pinpoint the precise origins of Friday 13th. What we do know, though, is that both Friday and the number 13 have been regarded as unlucky in certain cultures throughout history. In his book "Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things," Charles Panati traces the concept of the cursed back to Norse mythology, when Loki, the god of mischief, gate-crashed a banquet in Valhalla, bringing the number of gods in attendance to Deceived by Loki, the blind god Hodr was tricked into shooting his brother Balder, the god of light, joy and goodness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow, killing him instantly.
Friends or foes? Art's long, complicated relationship with religion. From Scandinavia, Panati explains, the superstition then spread south throughout Europe, becoming well established along the Mediterranean by the start of the Christian era. Both Friday and the number 13 have been considered unlucky in certain cultures since ancient times.
Friday the 13th is believed to be a day of bad luck, accidents, and unlucky omens. The date inspires a huge amount of superstition among people, especially in Western countries. There is even a word for the fear of this date - paraskevidekatriaphobia. But why is this particular date considered to be extremely unlucky?
Take a look below.
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