Today is Friday the 13th, the second Friday the 13th in 2009. If you are superstitious, or even if you are not, Friday 13th conjures up images of black cats, walking under ladders, broken mirrors and “bad” happenings. To many, Friday the 13th is a day of very bad “mojo.”
Apparently, the number of people who are negatively affected by a fear of Friday the 13th is substantial. According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Ashville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day. World-wide figures are not available, but it is believed that a similar percentage of the world’s population suffers from fear of Friday the 13th.
So when or where did the fear of Friday the 13th start? Experts who spend their time studying such things cannot come up with one, single rational (no pun intended) explanation to account for our collective fear of Friday the 13th. We will probably have better luck finding Einstein’s unifying theory of relativity.
The fear of Friday the 13th can probably be traced to two converging and equally irrational fears. People in Western society already have a fear of the number 13. For many, the number 13 is considered to be the unluckiest of all numbers. The fear of the number 13 is so pervasive that worldwide many high rise buildings, including hotels, do not have a 13th floor. (This is rather silly. If you are going up an elevator in a building where the 13th floor has been “deleted” you know that the floor right after the 12th floor is not the 14th floor. It is the 13th floor. So what is the point?)
People in Western society also have an irrational fear of Fridays. Friday was the day when Christ was crucified. Many historically “bad” events have happened on a Friday. Directors of Human Resources departments advise executive to fire or lay-off employees on a Friday. (As the theory goes, the fired employee has the entire weekend to “cool down.” I was laid off from one job, many years ago, on a Friday. The weekend did not provide me with a cooling off period. Come Monday I was just as upset as I had been the previous Friday).
It seems logical (again, no pun intended) that the combination of these two fears, fear of the number 13 and fear of Fridays is enough to leave some people so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed.
There have been many theories that try to account for the powerful sway that Friday the 13th seems to have on so many otherwise rational individuals.
One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day.
• In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve signs of the Zodiac, twelve hours of the clock (of course if you are using an hourglass, or if you are using the digital clock in your computer, this would not apply to you) twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve Apostles of Jesus, etc. There is a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper or a Norse myth that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.
• Friday has long been considered to be an unlucky day. Many individuals regard Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys or begin new projects. More recently, Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s. Also, as previously mentioned it has been suggested that Friday has been considered an unlucky day because, Jesus was crucified was crucified on a Friday.
Another theory about the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition traces the event to the arrest of the legendary Knights Templars. According to one source:
The Knights Templar were a monastic military order founded in Jerusalem in 1118 A.D., whose mission was to protect Christian pilgrims during the Crusades. Over the next two centuries, the Knights Templar became extraordinarily powerful and wealthy. Threatened by that power and eager to acquire their wealth, King Philip secretly ordered the mass arrest of all the Knights Templar in France on Friday, October 13, 1307.
A more speculative theory, attempts to link the Friday the 13th superstition to the Battle of Hastings. On a Friday the 13th, October 1066, the decision was made by King Harold II to go to battle on the Saturday 14th October, rather than allow his troops a day of rest. The decision to go to battle before the English troops were rested, further established Friday the 13th as an unlucky day (the English lost and King Harold was killed).
But is Friday the 13th really an unlucky day? To the producers of the FRIDAY THE 13TH movies this day has been extremely lucky – they have made a bundle of money on that particular movie franchise.
The Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) has reported that "fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays. Some have suggested, however, that the results of the Dutch study are not statistically valid because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home on any given Friday the 13th thus causing fewer accidents. And in the Netherlands (are you reading this Yucca, but wait, you ride a bike) driving is slightly safer on Friday 13th. In the last two years, Dutch insurers received reports of an average 7,800 traffic accidents each Friday; but the average figure when the 13th fell on a Friday was just 7,500. OK, so 300 fewer accidents is not a significant enough difference.
So what did you do today, Friday the 13th? Did you stay home and hide under the covers? Did you go about your usual business? Did anything bad happen to you today? (I hope not.) Did anything good happen to you today? (I hope so.) Was this Friday the 13th lucky or unlucky for you?
Superstitions can be fun at times. At other times, however, they can paralyze us with irrational fear. So I have a suggestion. Look at the calendar and mark off every Friday the 13th for the rest of the year and for the next year. On that day, get together with your friends, have a beer, kiss someone you like, go dancing, have fun doing something totally random and unexpected from you.
Now you and your friends will be creating your very own Friday the 13th “superstition.” And now, if you will excuse me I am going to go and hide under a rock until this day passes by!
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