On Superstition…
I woke up this morning and proceeded to go through my daily routine as usual. I noticed, in passing, that there were a lot fewer people at the gym and on the highway than usual. I briefly wondered if there is a holiday coming up, or if this is perhaps a popular vacation weekend. In any case, I didn’t worry about it too much, just started my Friday looking forward to the upcoming weekend.
It really didn’t click with me that it was Friday the 13th of July until I heard some coworkers talking about it. Some of them were laughing about it, some of them had the attitude of ‘why take chances?’.
This got me wondering: why are people superstitious about Fridays, in particular, that are numbered 13? I mean, logically, if the number 13 is bad luck, every single 13th of every single month would be considered bad luck.
I decided to do some research.
Superstition is the unsubstantiated belief that one event (supernaturally) causes another. It is can be passed down through generations, or gained after a series of curious events have occurred.
Apparently friggatriskaidekaphobia (aka paraskevidekatriaphobia), the fear of Friday the 13th, is a real phenomena: an estimated $850 million in revenue is lost each Friday the 13th in the US because such a large number of people (19 million or so) change their daily schedule or stay home as a preventative to bad luck.
But, why are we so afraid of Friday the 13th?
I, honestly, have no idea why I should be afraid of a certain day. Indeed, I’ve never really been afraid of it, and rarely even notice it. Granted, when I was a kid, I took particular care not to break mirrors or walk under ladders or cross paths with black cats on this day, though I’m not sure why. All these superstitions are actually lumped into one group in my mind, so I pretty much just observed them all on the same day and forgot about them the rest of the time .
The only reason I even know that it’s supposed to be an unlucky day is that every single Friday the 13th that I can remember has been fraught with warnings from others about the perils of not be cautious on this particular day.
Reasons Friday the 13th might be bad luck:
- 12 was considered the number of “completeness” in ancient times. 13 was abnormal and awkward and thought to be bad. For example, 13 people seated at a table was an ill omen that one of the diners would shortly perish.
- Friday may be considered unlucky because Jesus’ crucifixion is observed and commemorated on Fridays.
- It’s thought to be bad luck to start a project on a Friday, possibly stemming from the old maritime tradition of abstaining from beginning voyages on Friday.
- There have been an interestingly large number of “Black Fridays”, signified by notable crises, disasters, or mass arrests throughout history.
- The 13th B’ak’tun of the Mayan calendar is thought to be a harbinger of apocalypse (this is a relatively new fear).
- Potential roots in antisemitism, since the Jewish traditionally consider the number 13 to be lucky.
- A hangman’s noose must have 13 turns in the rope, or the rope will not snap a human’s neck.
- Sometimes there are 13 full moons in a year, an event which would occasionally disrupt religious ceremonies.
- The number 13 is associated with femininity due to its roots in the lunar cycle, and as patriarchal religions became prevalent, goddess and lunar based religions were presented negatively .
- Tradition: our parents and grandparents thought it was unlucky, so we do too.