I am sure many of you took notice that yesterday was Friday the 13th! It’s the unlucky day when bad things happen, we all know that but do we know why we believe that it’s unlucky? The fear of Friday the 13th comes from two separate fears, the fear of Fridays and the fear of 13.

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It is interesting that around the world similar superstitions exist like is Spain and Greece Tuesday the 13th is the feared day. There are many different beliefs when if comes to the origin of Friday the 13th. Some believe that it has to do that there were 13 people at the last supper of Jesus and he was crucified on Good Friday. In Christianity the day Friday is believed to be an unlucky day because the Great Flood began on a Friday; God tongue-tied the builders of the Tower of Babel on a Friday; Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit on Friday; the Temple of Solomon was destroyed on a Friday; and, of course, Friday was the day of the week on which Christ was crucified. Others believe that it originated from a Norse myth about 12 gods having a feast when Loki, the god of mischief in Norse mythology, crashed the party as the 13th uninvited guest. Loki had the blind god of darkness throw a poisonous mistletoe branch at Balder, the god of happiness and joy, killing him and sending the world to darkness and depression. Hence the superstition that you should never have 13 people at a dinner party or they will all die within the year. Even as far back as the 14th century Chaucer alluded to the day being misfortunate in Canterbury Tales, "And on a Friday fell all this mischance.”

The number 13 is actually very interesting, while most of the world know it to be an unlucky number not all cultures or civilizations believed it to be misfortunate. The Chinese thought that 13 were a lucky number and in the time of the pharaohs it was lucky in Egypt as well. The Egyptians believed that life unfolded in 12 stages, the 12th being this life and the 13th stage was the eternal afterlife. So 13 symbolized death but to the Egyptians it was something to be desired, once the civilization passed away the symbol stayed but was corrupted by later cultures associating death with fear instead of reverence for the afterlife. In the bible 12 is considered to be a lucky number so the number after that was thought to be evil. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose. Even buildings avoid numbering the 13th floor, airplanes avoid the 13th aisle and of course Friday the 13th is a day of bad luck, and it wasn’t too long ago that it was not uncommon for parents to avoid naming their children names that added up to 13 letters. Maybe they didn’t want their kids to become serial killers:

• Jack the Ripper- 13 letters
• John Wayne Gacy- 13 letters
• Charles Manson- 13 letters
• Jeffrey Dahmer- 13 letters
• Theodore (Ted) Bundy- 13 letters

While for most of us, Friday the 13th is a day to jokingly warn the people we meet that day to be careful because it’s an unlucky day, for some it really is a day to fear.

The actual fear of Friday the 13th is paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia, a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, the phobia of the number thirteen. According to Wikipedia.com the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in North Carolina estimates that the United States alone loses 800-900 million dollars lost in business on Friday the 13th because some people will not drive or go to work! It’s a good thing that it’s only happening twice in 2006, yesterday was the first time so the final Friday the 13th for 2006 will not be until October. Even if you don’t have friggatriskaidekaphobia and don’t take extreme precautionary measures on the day, most Americans wouldn’t plan a wedding, start a new job or close on a house on Friday the 13th. Funny how superstition creeps up on you.

Here is a list of things not to do on Friday the 13th:

• Don’t change your bed or sheets or you will have bad dreams.
• Don’t start a trip or you will have misfortunes.
• About 100 years ago the British Government wanted to put an end to the superstition that the sailors held about setting sail on Fridays. According to David Emery, a writer and avid chronicler of urban folklore, “A special ship was commissioned, named "H.M.S. Friday." They laid her keel on a Friday, launched her on a Friday, selected her crew on a Friday and hired a man named Jim Friday to be her captain. To top it off, H.M.S. Friday embarked on her maiden voyage on a Friday, and was never seen or heard from again.”
• So don’t sail a ship on Friday!

Most of us learned at a very young age that Friday the 13th was supposed to be unlucky and we looked for things to happen on that day to make the legend true. If your looking for bad luck on Friday the 13th chances are you will find it.