Last week in Friday Night Live, we discussed this upcoming Friday and that it was Friday the 13th. From there I got to thinking – where did all of this Friday the 13th stuff start? I’ve heard about Friday the 13th all my life – my eight year old knows it’s a “bad luck” day, and we’ve never discussed it. So I started searching, and after making it through all the movie stuff, you will find some Friday the 13th Facts below:
Theories of Where Bad Luck Friday Began:
- Biblical times – maybe the crusification was the 13th or Adam eating the Apple
- Christians have traditionally been wary of Fridays because Jesus was crucified on a Friday.
- Chaucer allusion in The Canterbury Tales
- 17th & 19th Century Western Literature
- Black Friday – fall of Wall Street
Where Did the #13 come from?
- The Last Supper – Judas was the 13th guest
- 18th Century Superstition that 13 people at a table meant one would soon die
- Later this 13 people group theory was extended to rooms, ships, etc.
- By the 19th Century, room 13′s were eliminated in hotels, floor 13s in buildings
- Could have been considered pagan because there are 13 months in the pagan lunar calendar.
When did the two merge to Friday the 13th?
- Did not become bad luck until the 20th Century
- 1913 Notes & Queries first written reference to Friday the 13th
- In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.
Terms
- triskaidekaphobia - fear of the number 13
- paraskevidekatriaphobia – fear of Friday the 13th
Sources:
- http://www.snopes.com/luck/friday13.asp
- http://people.howstuffworks.com/friday-thirteenth1.htm
- http://www.infoplease.com/spot/friday13th.html
Looking for something to do on this Friday the 13th? Join us over at MomDot for the MomDot Friday the 13th Party. You can turn your bad luck into good luck with all the amazing prizes that will be given away tonight.
