Friday, 07 September 2007

Why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky?


Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day. There are zillions of examples of bad things that have happened on this date and day. Why? Where did it come from?
Firstly one has to divorce the number 13 from Friday. The unlucky number Thirteen has a history of its own. Buildings often don’t have a floor 13 or a room 13, which has nothing to do with a Friday. This is an unlucky number in its own right.
That leaves us with Friday the 13th.
From what I can find out there are two possible origins.
- The oldest one that can be found is the reference to the Last Supper. Jesus was crucified on a Friday and there were 13 people at the Last Supper.
- On Friday 13 October 1307, the Knights Templar were sentenced to death by the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church with the support of the French King. Their leader was tortured and crucified. The Knights Templar split up and became “pirates” and attacked anything that was Roman or French in retaliation.
Image from Wikipedia

1 comment:

Gerry Hatrić said...

I live at house number 13 and have never seen what the big deal is with so called unlucky numbers. Other superstitions like not walking under ladders make much better sense, particularly if there's a can of paint at the top, but numbers??? No, don't get it. Why would one number cause me more problems than another?