STRANGE BUT TRUE TALES

WHY IS FRIDAY 13th UNLUCKY?

WHY IS FRIDAY 13th UNLUCKY?

Friday-the-13th

Bng wary of Friday the 13th is much > a quaint superstition observed by a few uneducated ppl in distant, unreachable towns & hamlets. In the US alone, tis estimated tht betwn 17 & 21 million ppl dread tht date 2 the extent tht it cn b officially classified as a phobia.

So Y is Friday the 13th considered such an "evil" day?

The origins aren't PERF'LY CLR, but we do know tht both Friday &, separately, the no. 13 hv long bn considered unlucky & twas around the L8 19th-CENTthat the first documented instances started popping up of ppl putting the #2 TOG. 2 4M the unluckiest dy of all.

To start w/, the most POP. theory as 2 Y FRI is considered unlucky / an evil dy is thought 2 SPR frm Christianity. By TRAD, FRI is considered the dy tht Eve gave Adam the "apple" & they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden- of course, "Friday" wldn't hv bn around yet. (Note: The notion tht twas an apple is a 2nd-CENT. invention & contrary 2 wot is stated in Genesis.)

Also by TRAD, Adam & Eve were purported 2 hv died on the then nonexistent "Friday". The Temple of Solomon wz sd 2 hv bn SACKED on FRI. And Jesus wz TRAD'LY considered 2 hv bn crucified on a FRI, the dy we refer 2 now as Good Friday.  Tht sd, thr r SEV. references in somewhat recent HIST. of Good Friday bng considered the #1 exception 2 FRI'S bng bad luck.  Such as this reference frm
1857:

Notwithstanding the prejudice against sailing on a Friday... most of the pleasure-boats... make their first voyage for the season on Good Friday.

Others theorise tht FRI bng unlucky predated Christianity.  The name "Friday" wz chosen in HON. of the Norse goddess Frigg, AKA Freyja, who wz the multitalented goddess of love, beauty, wisdom, war, death, & magic.  Teutonic ppl r thought 2 hv considered the dy extremely unlucky, ESP. fr weddings, due in part 2 the lovely goddess the dy wz named fr. L8R, the Christian church attempted 2 demonize the goddess, so tht may / may not b a contributing factor as well.

Woteva the case, despite these quite old origin theories, w-documented instances of the notion tht FRI wz popularly considered unlucky amg the masses dnt seem 2 hv popped ^ until around the mid-17th-CENT.  W/IN the nxt #2 CENT'S aftr tht, the idea CONT'D 2 spread & by the 19th-CENT. wz nearly ubiquitous in certain CULT'S.

As fr the unluckiness of the no.13, as w/FRI, thr r numerous possibilities fr the origin, the most POP. of wh also stems frm Christianity. Tis considered incredibly bad luck 2 hv 13 ppl
sitting at a table fr dinner, wh supposedly is due 2 the fact tht Judas Iscariot wz by TRAD the 13th pers 2 b seated 2 dine @ the Last Supper.

Howeva, the Hindus also believed tht it wz bad luck fr 13 ppl 2 gather TOG. fr NE purpose @ the same time.

Far awy in northern Europe, the Vikings of ancient times told a v similar story.  According 2 the old Norse myth, 12 gods were feasting @ the banquet hall @ Valhalla, when Loki, the god of Mischief, showed ^ uninvited. This, of course, brought the count of gods ^2 the dreaded NUM of 13. Loki then encouraged Hod, the blind god of winter & darkness, 2 murder Balder the Good w/ a spear of mistletoe, throwing all of Valhalla IN2 mourning, & once agn providing another example of a story in HIST. tht congregating w/ 13 fr dinner is a bad idea.

So Y all these separate religions hvng such a similar TRAD of  demonizing the no. 13?  Thr r those tht theorise the no. 13 may hv bn purposely denigrated by the founders of the patriarchal religions 2 eradicate the INFL. of the Mother Goddess. In goddess worshipping CULT'S, the no. 13 wz oft revered, as it rep'd the num of lunar & menstrual cyc's tht occur annually. Tis believed by those who adhere 2 this theory tht as the 12-mth solar calendar came IN2 use ov the 13-mth lunar calendar, the no. 13 itself became suspect.

It shd b noted, thou, tht not all CULT'S in the ancient wrld recoiled @ the no. 13. The Ancient Egyptians believed life wz a spiritual journey tht unfolded in stages. They believed tht 12 of those stages occurred in this life, but last, the 13th, wz a joyous transformative ascension 2 an eternal afterlife. So the no. 13 rep'd death 2 the Egyptians, but not death as in decay & fear, but as acknowledgement of a glorious eternal life.  Of course, it's alw possible the association w/ death frm Egyptian TRAF L8R morphed IN2 death in an unlucky sense L8R by CULT'S INFL'D by Egypt.

As w/ the notion of FRI bng unlucky, "13" bng popularly considered unlucky really seemed 2 gain steam around the 17th-18th-CENT'S, & by the 19th CENT in the Western wrld wz likewise extremely widespread in SEV. diff'rent CULT'S.

So when did FRI & the no. 13 join forces like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of bad luck 2 terrorize the masses? U will oft read tht it's when the Knights Templar were arrested on FRI, OCT 13, 1307.  Howeva, tht origin story is a mod. notion w/ no basis in NE documented HIST.

Others point 2 the last dy of King Harold II's reign on FRI, OCT 13, 1066. William of Normandy gave him the opportunity 2 relinquish his crown, wh he refused. The nxt dy William took it by force @ the Battle of Hastings, causing Harold's demise.  Agn, tis a mod. idea tht this is whr the first "Friday the 13th is the ULT. unlucky day" notion came abt.

It PERH ain't surprising, gvn tht both FRI and "13" as unlucky didn't reach their zenith in popularity until the 19th-CENT, tht it wasn't until around the mid to late 19th-CENT. tht the #2 were put TOG. as the ULT. unlucky dy.

One of the earliest references of this comes from a club formed by William Fowler.  Fowler set out to prove tht these sorts of superstitions r baseless. He thus formed a club kn as "The Thirteen Club" in wh club members wld meet in grps of 13 to dine, w/ their first eva get TOG. occurring, of course, on the unluckiest dy of the week- FRI the 13th in JAN of 1881.

To thumb their noses evn further @ the fates, they hd club mbr's wlk undr a ladder b4 sitting dwn to a table in rm 13 of the BUILD. they were in.  They also md sure thr wz plenty of spilled salt on the table b4 they dined.

A slightly earlier documented reference comes frm 1869, in the biography of Gioachino Rossini whr the author, Henry Sutherland Edwards notes:

He [Rossini] was surrounded to the last by admiring friends; and if it be true that, like so many Italians, he regarded Fridays as an unlucky day and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that one Friday 13th of November he died.

(Interestingly, traditionally in Italy, FRI the 13th wz not considered unlucky, w/ 13 bng oft considered a lucky num thr until extremely recently when Western European & American INFL. started 2 chng tht. For Italians, classically, 17 wz the unlucky num & thus FRI the 17th became the Italian version of FRI the 13th. Nevertheless, Henry Sutherland Edwards wz British so, thou he wz writing abt an Italian composer, applied his own superstition 2 Gioachino Rossini.)

The notion of FRI the 13th bng the unluckiest of the unlucky picked ^ steam frm around this point & once we get IN2 the early 20th-CENT., thr r numerous documented instances of ppl referencing it in this way, such as the 1907 novel by stockbroker Thomas W. Lawson called Friday the Thirteenth, wh told of a stockbroker's efforts 2 SACK the market on tht ominous date.

So, aside frm the popular "Friday the 13th"  film franchise, wot mks the FRI the 13th superstition stick so stubbornly in our collective consciousness? Psychologists point 2 the fact tht if anything NEG. hppns on tht specific date, ppl mk a permanent association betwn the evnt & the date in their minds, conveniently 4GETTING all those times FRI the 13th hs passed uneventfully.  In short, tis a classic example of confirmation bias.