Paraskavedekatriaphobia: Why is Friday the 13th Considered Unlucky?

VA Viper ^ | 11/13/2015 | harpygoddess

[harpygoddess]

In case you were trying to work it out for yourself, the name of this phobia in Pig Latin is araskavedekatriaphobiapay.

Superstition, bigotry, and prejudice, ghosts though they are, cling tenaciously to life: they are shades armed with tooth and claw. They must be grappled with unceasingly, for it is a fateful part of human destiny that it is condemned to wage perpetual war against ghosts. A shade is not easily taken by the throat and destroyed.

~Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

Today is Friday, the 13th, which superstition holds is a day for bad luck. According to folklorists, there is no written reference to this belief before the 19th century. The earliest known reference in English occurred in an 1869 biography of composer Gioacchino Rossini, which described the irony of his dying on an "unlucky" Friday, the 13th.

The basis for the superstition may lie in the fact that 13 has long been held to be an unlucky number and Friday an unlucky day - hence the combination. It has been estimated that something like 20 million people are affected by this belief in the United States, many of them changing their normal routines on this day to avoid "the curse." The Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics claims that "fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of a month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays, because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home."

[The Sons of Liberty]

The Templars were rounded up,tortured and murdered on Friday the 13th, because the King of France colluded with the Pope to avoid paying a huge debt he owed them.

[Paine in the Neck]

Yep. Philip was in a pinch and the Templars had a lot of money. Think of it as a medieval ‘bail in’.

[D Rider]

The original Passover was a sabbath, the 14th of Nissan. Or Friday the 13th for the Egyptians.

[Oldexpat]

Happy Birthday to me.

[I want the USA back]

Silly-a$$ superstition.

[BitWielder1]

Humans are programmed to detect patterns in their experience of the world, even when they have no grasp of the causes.
Some of those patterns are real and useful, others not so much, but they can still become rules and beliefs passed down through generations.

Some superstitions have a real basis:
A black cat crossing your path is bad luck - if it's a Panther.

Walking under a ladder can be bad luck - if someone drops a can of paint on you.
Once you understand how it works, you should shed the superstition part.

[butlerweave]

I also make sure I have a Lotto ticket for Friday 13th

[FredZarguna]

Small correction: the Knights Templar consisted of several thousand members on October 13, 1307, having dwindled sharply from its peak of 15-20,000 at one time. Only about sixty of the Knights -- the leadership -- were actually rounded up on Friday the 13^th. I don't think there is any historical record of any of them being murdered Friday the 13^th.

Most of them were imprisoned, facing charges while the Pope and the King of France wrangled over jurisdiction and charges. Of the ones seized, most were burned at the stake in 1310; three years after their arrest. The Grand Master, Jacques De Molay, was not staked until March of 1314.

Most of the Knights were actually cleared of the charges made against them and absorbed into other orders.