Friday the 13th: Here’s the History Behind the Superstitious Day

Today is Friday, 13th of October, 2015. Friday the 13th has been the subject of superstitious dread and fear for centuries, with many people believing that it is unlucky to do certain activities on that day, and that it is bad luck to be in the same room with someone who was born on that day.

Friday the 13th has been the day that superstition has swept the nation. It is considered bad luck and unlucky to be born on Friday the 13th in most countries. However, there are those who believe that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day to start a new business, to get a new job, or to get married. This has been the day that people have chosen to have their unlucky days come true.

A list of 13 things to do: 1. 14 Things: According to tradition, you should not start a new day until the last one is complete. 2. 14 more things: Friday the 13th is not a good day to start new ventures as the initial success could be the start of a series of bad luck. 3. 14 more things: The first Friday the 13th of any year was the day 1492 is known as Columbus Day in the United States. 4. 14 more things: The original Friday the 13th was Friday, October 13, 1885. That day, the world’s worst airline disaster happened when the Canadian Pacific Railway ship “Montrose” caught fire and sank in a storm. 5. Read more about friday the 13th meaning and let us know what you think.

friday-the-13th-superstition-explained-1244607-1280x0

 

When Friday the 13th arrives, most individuals get agitated for no apparent reason. You’d be hard-pressed to find another day on the calendar that causes so much anxiety, especially because it happens three times a year. People aren’t always aware of why a superstition exists, other than because other people claim it exists, just as they aren’t always aware of why they walk under a ladder, shatter a mirror, or cross paths with a black cat. Friday the 13th has a long history of being associated with ill luck, going all the way back to Jesus Christ.

At Christ’s Last Supper, there were 13 people there, including Jesus and his 12 followers, with Judas Iscariot being the 13th. Because of his betrayal of Christ, which resulted in his death on Good Friday, the number 13 has long been seen as a “imperfect” number, as demonstrated by the fact that the Gregorian calendar only contains 12 months. While Christ’s crucifixion may not have directly sparked a Friday the 13th superstition, Judas’ acts and Christ’s death on a Friday combined to add superstition to both of these indications. The number 13 is associated with ill luck not just in Christian beliefs, but also in Norse mythology, where the 13th guest, Loki, wrecked a gods’ dinner party, ending in death and darkness.

The arrest of hundreds of Knights Templar by Philip IV of France on Friday, October 13, 1307, is another example of tragic events linked to these omens. The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, emphasized that Fridays were a bad day to undertake a trip, emphasizing the need of care on that day of the week. Friday was also known as “Hangman’s Day” in Britain, since it was the day on which those who were sentenced to death were hung.

 

Friday the 13th phobia, also known as “paraskevidekatriaphobia,” didn’t gain popularity until the 19th century. The unlucky day was indelibly etched into pop culture in 1980.

 

After the success of Halloween in 1978, director Sean S. Cunningham was inspired to create a film based on the foreboding “Friday the 13th,” eventually enlisting Victor Miller to write the screenplay. The original tale was originally titled “A Long Night at Camp Blood,” but after the success of the film “Halloween,” Cunningham thought that adopting another foreboding title might yield similar results. The events of the film took place on Friday, June 13th, when a group of camp counselors were assassinated by a mother whose son had perished at the camp owing to careless counselors years before.

 

While the first Friday the 13th did not get the critical acclaim that Halloween did, it was a commercial success when it was released in cinemas in 1980, prompting a hastily produced sequel to be released in 1981. While the events of the films themselves may not have been intrinsically linked with the superstition of “Friday the 13th,” they did help to spread the fear of the day. By 1989, the franchise had earned seven theatrical releases since its inception, and while the events of the films themselves may not have been intrinsically linked with the superstition of “Friday the 13th,” they did help to spread the fear of the day.

Other notable Friday the 13th events include the bombing of Buckingham Palace during World War II on September 13, 1940, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashing in the Andes mountains on October 13, 1972 — with the survivors going on to eat the deceased passengers as made famous by the 1993 film Alive — a stock market crash on October 13, 1989, and Tupac Shakur’s death on September 13, 1996.

 

 

{replyCount}comments

Do you have a fear of Friday the 13th? Please let us know in the comments section below!

iStock/ Getty Images provided the header picture. Plus

There are many superstitions surrounding Friday the 13th, but the one that dates back to ancient times is having 13 wives. The idea is that the number 13 represents an unlucky number, so it is best to marry a woman who is not your wife’s 13th spouse. Some claim that it is not superstitious, but is actually a way of keeping the number of women in the family down. Others believe that the number of wives is a symbol of the number of wives a man will have in the afterlife.. Read more about what happened on friday the 13th 2020 and let us know what you think.

Related Tags

This article broadly covered the following related topics:

  • what happened on friday the 13th
  • friday the 13th good luck
  • friday the 13th meaning
  • friday 13
  • friday the 13th facts
You May Also Like