Friday the 13th: Where does our fear of this 'unlucky' day really come from?

Friday the 13th: Where does our fear of this 'unlucky' day really come from?

Friggatriskaidekaphobia and Paraskevidekatriaphobia are both terms for the fear of Friday the 13th.

Dr. Dossey, who coined the latter term, states that as many as 21 million Americans suffer from this superstition. Is it an old superstition or a more modern amalgamation of two other fears: Fridays and the number 13?

The most widespread origin references the crucifixion of Jesus, on a Friday, and the 13 guests at the Last Supper, with the 13th guest being Judas, the traitor.

The publication of The Da Vinci Code a decade ago, however, popularised a link with the Knights Templar. According to historians, on October 13th, 1307, orders from King Philip IV of France accusing the Templars of heresy were opened. Officers of the King carried out dawn arrests that left several thousand Templars in chains and in the years that followed many died from torture or were executed.

In Norse mythology, Frigga, the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility, was labelled a witch and banished when tribes converted to Christianity. Legend has it that every Friday, the malicious goddess assembled the devil and eleven other witches (13 in total) and plotted evil fateful deeds for the coming week. For centuries in Scandinavia, Friday was therefore known as the "Witches' Sabbath."

There is, however, virtually no written reference to the superstition prior to the 1900s. My preference is that a very popular novel published in 1907 is to blame. Thomas W. Lawson's novel entitled "Friday, the Thirteenth" tells the story of an unscrupulous stockbroker who picks that particular day to bring down Wall Street. The book sold 60,000 copies in its first month.

Coincidentally a ship named after Lawson hit a storm and was wrecked on the night of Friday 13th December, 1907.  Whether it has a literary, biblical, Norse, or Knights Templar origin remains to be seen but the unlucky associations with the number 13 are equally interesting.

The fear of the number thirteen is known as triskaidekaphobia. As a number associated with bad luck it is a belief that is strong enough that many hotels and tall buildings traditionally skip labelling the 13th floor entirely.

I've found reference to a superstition that says "If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck" (Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names).

There are many theories as to why this unlucky belief is held.  One relates to the biblical reference mentioned earlier about the traitor, Judas. This is echoed in Norse mythology, originating with an incident involving Loki, the God of Evil & Turmoil, which states that having 13 people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.

Also, throughout history the number 12 has been associated with perfection or wholeness (e.g. twelve gods of Olympus, hours of the clock, tribes of Israel) and the number 13 with irregularity or imperfection.

One of the oldest references is in ancient Babylonian history (1700s BC). In the Code of Hammurabi, an early law code, the laws are numbered and skip from 12 to 14. Possibly the Babylonians considered 13 to be unlucky because of the Song of Ishtar, an ancient Babylonian epic poem. The thirteenth line contains the name of the Goddess of the Dead (which is never a good thing!).

 

 

Article Source: The Mirror