Friday's Urban Legend: FALSE
[reposted from April 13, 2007]
Having a morbid fear of Friday the 13th—paraskevidekatriaphobics—is one of the most widespread superstitious beliefs in western industrialized nations. Believe it or not, there are many people who refuse to leave their house on Friday the 13th because they fear that bad luck will befall them if they venture outside. (Apparently, the bad luck doesn't find them in their homes.)
Personally, I like the attitude of the "eccentric" (rational?) men in the photo.Members of the Eccentric Club of London at their annual Friday the 13th lunch in 1936 – surrounded by objects that are connected with superstitions. Picture: Getty Images [Unlucky roots of Friday the 13th].There is no evidence to support the irrational fear of Friday the 13th, with the single exception of a study published 14 years ago in the British Medical Journal [Is Friday the 13th bad for your health?]. That study showed an increase in accidents on Friday the 13th compared to Friday the 6th.
According to scholars, the fear of Friday the 13th is a recent invention. There is no mention of it before 1900 [Why Friday the 13th Is Unlucky]. It seems that people simply combined a fear of the number 13—triskaidekaphobia—with an obscure dead of Fridays. Nobody knows for sure why the number 13 is considered unlucky but there are several popular myths. The most common are a Norse myth about having 13 people at dinner and a Christian myth about the Last Supper.
There is no significant historical record documenting a widespread irrational fear of Fridays although there are plenty of minor examples of Friday avoidance. Some people thought it was bad luck to be married on a Friday or to set sail on a ship. In Christian cultures the day is associated with the fact that Jesus was crucified on a Friday and Friday is the day that Adam was tempted by Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.
The fear of Friday 13th is incredibly silly. You can fear the movie of that name, and its sequels, because they're all so bad, but don't worry about that day.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note : if I were you, I wouldn't trust Saturday 14th. It's definitely a bad luck day.
I would recommend a book by one Nicholas Lachenmeyer: 13: A history of the World's Most Popular Superstition. I read it a few years ago. Apparently the US used to have a few clubs similar to the one in your picture. They would get together occasionally to flaunt every superstition they could think of, such as holding dinners on Friday the 13th, sitting 13 people to a table, having black cats walking around, and so on.
ReplyDeleteLarge chains such as Barnes and Noble and Borders don't seem to stock the book, unfortunately. Borders didn't even have it in their system. I was lucky that my local library system had a copy in circulation.
I refuse to jump out of a 13th story window on any given Friday the 13th.
ReplyDeleteOh dear ....
ReplyDeleteThere is a VERY GOOD reason why that date was "unlucky for some"
Friday 13th October 1307
The arrest of all Knights Templar in France.
That is where the superstition comes from ......
G. Tingey writes,
ReplyDeleteFriday 13th October 1307. The arrest of all Knights Templar in France.
There are many possible explanations for the fear of Friday the 13th but that one is almost certainly false.
If you had followed the links in my posting you would have discovered why. There is no record of any fear of Friday the 13th before 1800. By all historical accounts, it appears to be a modern phenomenon.
If it had anything to do with the event of 1307 then why is there no mention of it for 500 years? Besides, even though the destruction of the Knights Templar gets a mention in the history books, it was not that big a deal for the average person back in 1307. In fact, many people thought it was a good thing. Friday the 13th should be a lucky day.