As you’ve no doubt noticed, today is January 13, and it’s a Friday. That date sends shivers down the spines of many people and is considered unlucky, but is there anything really behind that superstition?
The short answer – as with many superstitions – is absolutely not.
It’s just a day, after all.
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But there are reasons why the date is considered to be an unfortunate one, and they are pretty interesting, so stick around and you’ll find out what the big deal is about.
The delusion surrounding Friday 13 is ingrained into western civilisation, even spawning a very successful film series, as you’re no doubt aware, but the truth behind it comes from millennia ago.
Oh, and it’s worth mentioning that if you’re worried about today, there’s actually another Friday 13 following later on this year, with one scheduled for October as well.
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So, our journey back to the origin of the superstition starts with the death of Jesus Christ, who was betrayed on a Friday by one of the 13 people who was at his Last Supper – including him, obviously.
That caused the day of Friday and the number 13 to be considered as unlucky.
Whilst that might have happened 2,000 years ago, the link wasn’t really posited until the 19th century.
In 1869, Henry Sutherland Edwards wrote a biography of the fabled composer Gioachino Rossini, making particular notice of his date of death as significant.
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Edwards said: “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 on Friday 13th of November he passed away.”
There’s also a lingering idea that the mystery of the day comes from the 1300s when King Philip IV of France brutally tortured and burned alive a load of Knights Templar, although there’s some speculation around that as well.
Then, in the early 20th century – 1907, as it happens – there was a novel written that cemented the date in the public consciousness.
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Obviously, it was called ‘Friday, The Thirteenth’.
It was written by Thomas W. Lawson and it focused on a businessman who was determined to cause problems and chaos on that particular day on the stock markets.
The opening sentence of the book reads: “Friday, the 13th; I thought as much.
“If Bob has started, there will be hell, but I will see what I can do.”
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In short, there’s nothing really to worry about the date of Friday 13.
Just don’t let a black cat cross your path or walk underneath any ladders.
There’s no reason to tempt fate, is there?
Topics: Weird
Tom Wood