Discussions

is the day for superstitions. Watch out for black cats, broken mirrors, or walking under ladders. For all of Friday the thirteenth, superstitious people will be in fear of receiving bad luck. Others will refuse to leave home, drive to work or do simple shopping on this day, but whether you are a true Triskaidekaphobe, (a person who has an irrational fear of Friday 13th. and is also called a Paraskevidekatriaphobe), or just mildly wary, its not a bad idea to know where your trepidation comes from. It’s hard to find the routes of any Superstition, but some sources say that this particular one comes from Myths about Friday’s and the number thirteen.  
 
Friday’s are particularly important in the Christian tradition: there is Good Friday, the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, and Adam and Eve are also supposed to have eaten the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden on a Friday. The Great Flood started on a Friday and the builders of the Tower of Babel were tongue tied on this day, and the Temple of Solomon was destroyed on a Friday. You will not find this information in the Bible because these stories may have come from pre-Christian Pagan cultures that held Friday’s as holidays. The word “Friday” is derived from the Norse Deity who was worshipped on the sixth day of the week and who represented marriage and fertility. Early Norse culture held Friday as a good day for love and held weddings on this day. With time, mythology changed the Norse fertility goddess into a Witch and Friday’s became an unholy Sabbath, and also this Goddess had a sacred animal, a cat which may be why there is a connection between witches and cats as well as black cats bringing bad luck if they cross your path. Added to the array of bad luck associated with Friday’s, the sixth day of the week was execution day in Ancient Rome and later hangman day in Britain.  
 
The number thirteen also has mythological and religious symbolism. Both Hindus and Viking’s had a myth in which twelve Gods were invited to a gathering and Loki, the God of mischief crashed the party and incited a riot. Traditions in both cultures say that if a party has thirteen guests bad luck will befall the party ad there will be a death. In a similar vain the last supper in Christian tradition hosted thirteen people and one betrayed Christ, (Judas) resulted in his death. Other cultures associate the number thirteen with death. The ancient Egyptians believed life was lived in twelve stages, the thirteenth stage being death. The Egyptians saw death as part of their ultimate journey and looked forward to their spiritual transformation. At this time it was lucky but over the years it was warped by cultures and became an unlucky number.  
 
The number thirteen may have an unlucky connotation because of its association with lunar calendar, (there are thirteen lunar cycles in a year and with femininity a woman has thirteen menstrual cycles in a year). Some first nation societies would isolate their women in separate Tepee’s during this time because it was considered bad luck for men to see them.  
Finally comes the event that ties the two superstitions together. It is quite certain that the superstitions associated with Friday and the number thirteen with misfortune date back to ancient times. Some sources suggest the precise origin of the black spot on the day its self, to a specific historical event. On Friday thirteenth 1307, King Philip IV of France had the Knight’s Templar rounded up for torture and execution. The Knights Templar were an order of warriors within the Roman Catholic Church who banded together to protect Christian travellers visiting Jerusalem in the centuries after the crusades. The knights eventually became a rich, powerful and allegedly corrupt Order within the Church. They were executed for Heresy.  
 
So who knows?  
 
Will this date be forever cursed by one event that occurred nearly seven hundred years ago, or by a series of cosmic coincidences?  
 
Or is it a figment of human beings collective imaginations?  
 
What ever it is, please do not book a room on the thirteenth floor at the next hotel you stay at.