It seems the idea of Friday the Thirteenth comes from earlier superstitions that
both the number 13 and Friday are unlucky. When they come together... what do you expect? Or perhaps it stems from the idea that celestial events that fall on arbitrarily numbered
days portend some sort of cosmic sign.In many cultures, 12 represents a
"complete" number. After all, it is the smallest number that can be divided by 2,3, & 4. Think of all the
things you know that come by the dozen - months, hours, inches, apostles, the 12 tribes of Judaism, the 12 gods of Olympus,
dice, donuts, and eggs, just to name a few. Thirteen... just mucks things up. As well, there are even old Norse and Jewish
legends that say if 13 people dine, then one of them is going to die. A good thing to keep in mind when inviting people to
your Friday the 13th parties. Just consider the Last Supper from Christian mythology. It was on a Friday, and there were
13 present. Why it is referred to as Good Friday is beyond me.
And Friday
is unlucky because... well, it just is. Really, nobody seems to have cared about Friday the 13th before the 19th century.
The earliest record in the English language of Friday the Thirteenth being unlucky is that of a British journalist in 1869,
but since then we've developed all sorts of phobias.
"The fear of
Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga being the name of the Norse goddess for whom ‘Friday' is named
and triskaidekaphobia meaning fear of the number thirteen)." Of course, not everybody sees Friday the 13th as unlucky.
The Chinese, for instance, believe the number 13 is lucky. But then, there are those who believe that it is unlucky to be
Chinese. Seriously: Chinophobia is the fear of Chinese people, Chinese customs, and anything else Chinese. As far as that
goes, there is a phobia for fearing America: Amerophobia. But why stop there? Xenophobia is pretty much the fear of everybody
who isn't you, and Autophobia is the fear of yourself. And then there's Panophobia: The fear of everything.
So is Friday the 13th really unlucky? According to a study done in Britain, there are actually
fewer accidents on Friday the 13th than other random combinations of week days and days of the months. But that could be
because, as the study pointed out, fewer people leave their homes on Friday the 13th, and on that day, overall, people tend
to be more cautious.
Me? I think I'll err on the side of caution and
stay in the house all day.
By the way, it would be a rare year that
didn't have at least one Friday the Thirteenth. The only Friday the 13th in 2021 will be in August.
