Friday the Thirteenth: A Brief History of Superstition and Facts about a “Bad” Day. Why is Friday the thirteenth considered a bad day? Why is Friday the 13th a cursed day?

There is probably no person who does not believe in omens, accidents and coincidences. He may not recognize them, but everyone has something of their own, verified by personal experience. For example, you shouldn’t get up on your left foot, return home for a forgotten item, sew up clothes for the trip... this list can be extended to hundreds, and sometimes we adhere to many things without even realizing it. But there is another superstition associated with one day.

Friday the 13th.

Why did it become fashionable to tremble with fear of “Friday the 13th”, call it “the day of Satan” and expect evil tricks from the dark forces? They say it all started with the Templars, who were executed on this very day. Let's try to figure out where the superstitions about the mystical properties of Friday the 13th came from, and should we be afraid of this day?!

There are several versions about the origin of the mystical power of Friday the 13th. The most popular explanation is given by the Last Supper, in which 13 people took part - Jesus and 12 of his disciples. The thirteenth was the traitor Judas.

Another explanation is that witch conclaves always consisted of thirteen participants. Court records do not always confirm this rule, but the people firmly believed in it. It is believed that on this day all ghouls, witches and other evil spirits gather for a demonic Sabbath from all over the world.

Friday was also “guilty” of the fact that, according to legend, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and were expelled from paradise on this very day.

There is another version: 700 years ago, the most powerful and richest organization in Europe, the Order of the Templars, ceased to exist. Militant monks built roads, fought wars, and financed the construction of Gothic cathedrals. But in 1307 they disappeared from the historical arena as mysteriously as they appeared on it. One day, April 13, Friday, they were all captured, put behind bars, and then burned at the stake of the Inquisition.

Some astrologers believe that the number 13 itself, according to numerology, is the beginning of everything new. In the Middle Ages, in contrast to the dozen - the number 12 - people involved in dark affairs decided to “invent” the devil’s dozen, which is designated by the number 13. Friday as a negative day in combination with the “devil” number was chosen because dreams from Thursday to Friday are considered prophetic.

The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia, it is a special form of the disease. For reference, we note that the term “phobia” goes back to Phobos, the god of fear. And they talk about phobias when a person finds himself in the power of the “god of fear,” that is, fear controls him, and he does not control fear.

Note that Friday the 13th is considered unlucky by many.

The Americans turned out to be the most impressionable in terms of superstitions. A large number of high-rise buildings in the United States do not have a 13th floor. After the 12th comes the 14th. Many airports do not have a 13th gate. Some airlines remove this day from their flight schedules. In hospitals and hotels there is no 13th ward and 13th room. Together with other facts, every time on Friday the 13th the US economy suffers losses of $800–900 million. After all, making purchases on this day is considered a bad sign.

And in Britain, surgeons are afraid of Friday the 13th. Some of them are canceling operations scheduled for that day. British doctors are confident that the risk of failure doubles on Friday the 13th. In cinemas there is no chair number 13. And in France there is a tradition: if 13 people gather for lunch, they put the 14th chair and put a mannequin on it, which is served like the rest.

By the way, it was the thirteenth pillar of the Paris tunnel that the car carrying Princess Diana crashed into. In 1970, the Apollo 13 spacecraft aborted its flight to the Moon due to the explosion of an oxygen tank on board. It launched on April 13 at 13:13 from launch pad No. 39 (three times 13).

There are several cases of strange coincidences of the number 13 in the fate of quite famous personalities. For example Richard Wagner. The number thirteen haunted me all my life. His name is written in Latin letters, consists of thirteen letters, and he was born in 1813. On October 13 (Friday), he heard Weber's opera "Freeshot", which had a great influence on him. Throughout his life, he wrote 13 operas, no more, no less. The opera Tannhäuser (which he completed on April 13, 1844) failed in Paris on March 13, 1861, but was rehabilitated there on May 13, 1895. The Riga theater, where Wagner began his service as bandmaster, opened on September 13, 1837, and his own theater in Bayreth opened on August 13. He died in the thirteenth year of German unity, and the day of his death was February 13th. Mysticism, and that’s all.

It was on Friday the 13th that the once all-powerful “master of Chicago,” the famous American gangster Al Capone, was arrested and sentenced to prison. On Friday, September 13, 1996, in the famous city of gambling, Las Vegas, the popular musician and composer Tupac Shakur was killed, having previously managed to happily escape several serious assassination attempts. But on Friday the 13th, the killer’s bullets still caught up with him.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1804-1815) on this day refrained from conducting military operations and, like a true Corsican, was not deprived of superstitious fear. As you can see, the French emperor was not alone, the German statesman Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) nicknamed the “Iron Chancellor”, the English Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) and the oil magnate Jean Paul Getty (1892-1976) never signed this day of no contracts or agreements.

The German poet, thinker and natural scientist Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) preferred to spend Friday the 13th in bed, just in case. It would seem that he was an enlightened man, the author of the famous “Faust,” but he was terribly superstitious.

Austrian composer Arnold Schonberg (1874-1951), inventor of 12-tone music, spent Friday, July 13, 1951, locked in bed, shaking with fear. A quarter of an hour before midnight, his wife Gertrude looked in on him: “Soon everything will be over.” Schonberg raised his head slightly, whispered the word “harmony” and... died. Time of death: 13 minutes to midnight. He was 76 years old, 13 in total. And he was born on September 13, 1874.

However, the number 13 is considered auspicious in Kabbalah and among the Mayans.
A Jewish boy undergoes his Bar Mitzvah at the age of thirteen.

In English, 13 is often called "the baker's dozen." The origin of this name is due to the fact that in the Middle Ages, bakers, fearing the severe punishments in force at that time for deceiving customers (up to cutting off a hand), usually added an extra unit of goods to each dozen sold, so as not to accidentally shortchange themselves.

And I wish you not to believe prejudices, remember that your ancestors on your grandmother’s side were Mayan Indians, and enjoy Friday, August 13th!

Gabriel / Unsplash

Friday the 13th - start a tradition of relaxing with your cat

Gabriel / Unsplash

What does Friday the 13th mean, what happens on this day, when will the next Friday the 13th happen and why you shouldn’t be afraid of them.

Friday the 13th is considered to be a day of troubles, when supposedly you need to be prepared for all sorts of failures, and the best way to prepare for them is to do nothing. Scientists, including psychologists and doctors, consider superstitions and beliefs associated with Friday the 13th, a phobia, a special case of fear of the number 13, which received its own name - paraskavedekatriaphobia, which is based on the Greek words παρασκευή (Friday) and δεκατρία (thirteen). According to the scientist who proposed it, Dossey, if you can say such a term several times without hesitation, your fear of Friday the 13th will disappear on its own.

The number 13 is popular in occult studies / Photo: Bee Felten-Leidel / Unsplash

Culturologists note that this superstition is relatively young - no mention of Friday the 13th is found until the second half of the 19th century. What then about the “biblical legends”, according to which, “it was on Friday the 13th that Eve tasted the forbidden fruit and gave it to Adam. On the same date, Cain killed his brother Abel. Jesus Christ was also crucified on Friday.” The conclusion suggests itself - they appeared no earlier than the 19th century.

Friday and the number 13 were united into one belief only in the 19th century / Photo: Mallory Johndrow / Unsplash

Interestingly, one of the first mentions of Friday the 13th is found in the English-language biography of the composer Rossini: “until the end of his days he was surrounded by the love and sympathy of friends. And if it is true that he, like many Italians, considered Friday to be a day of bad luck, and thirteen to be the number of bad luck, it is noteworthy that he died on Friday, November 13th.” This happened in 1868.

Other “bad” days and numbers

In Spanish-speaking countries, Tuesday is considered a “bad” day, and especially Tuesday the 13th. The Greeks also adhere to this belief.

In Italy, Friday the 17th is considered an unlucky day, while the number 13 can bring good luck.

In China, they panicky avoid the number 4 - they try not to even write the “devil’s number”.

Friday the 17th is considered an unlucky day for Italians / Photo: Fabian Albert / Unsplash

What does Friday the 13th mean and what happens on this day

First of all, they expect and fear trouble. In this regard, the following signs of Friday the 13th appeared:

• It is not advisable to go somewhere on Friday the 13th, “after all, you may not return.” On this day, serious transactions, signing documents, and making important decisions are avoided.

• Medical operations are also recommended to be postponed if possible.

• Protect yourself from unwanted temptations - those that can cause harm.

What happened on Friday the 13th

On Friday the 13th a number of events and disasters occurred, among which the following stand out:

End of the Aztec Empire (August 13, 1521); bombing of Buckingham Palace (September 13, 1940); the crash of the Douglas C-54 airliner, during which all 50 passengers on board were killed (June 13, 1947); superstorm in South Asia, killing 300 thousand people (November 13, 1970); The crash of an Il-62 airliner near Moscow, killing 174 people, was the world's worst air disaster at the time. On the same day, FH-227 crashed in the Andes (October 13, 1972); computer virus Friday the 13th (January 13, 1989); the crash of the Costa Concordia liner, with 4,200 passengers and crew on board (January 13, 2012); terrorist attacks in Paris (November 13, 2015).

At the same time, researchers claim that the likelihood of incidents does not increase on this day. And some research suggests that the number of accidents is even falling, perhaps because more people are being more careful.

Whether you believe that Friday the 13th is a bad day or not, if you have the opportunity to organize a day without major decisions and free yourself from work, then why not do it? It is possible that thanks to this tradition, Friday the 13th will eventually begin to be considered the day that brings.

When is next Friday the 13th?

Friday the 13th is notorious, and not only among superstitious people. Many consider this date unlucky and fear troubles and failures. Let's look at why Friday the 13th is considered a bad day. Back in the Middle Ages, this day of the week was considered unlucky, and the number 13 was notorious as the number of the devil. After all, this is a damn dozen.

Bible version

The answer to why Friday the 13th is considered a bad day can be found in the Bible. It was on this day that the devil in the guise of a serpent seduced Eve into eating an apple from the tree of paradise. Interestingly, the most terrible events in biblical history took place on Fridays:

• The murder of Abel by his own brother Cain.
• Global flood.
• Destruction of Solomon's Temple.
• Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

In general, the Bible was very negative about the last working day of the week. At the same time, the modern church does not recognize a single superstition associated with this day.

A similar version of the origin of the bad date is contained in Scandinavian mythology. 12 great gods gathered at the festive table, and the 13th, uninvited - Loki, caused general confusion with his appearance.

Popular hypotheses

There are several versions explaining why Friday the 13th is considered a bad day:

• The Last Supper took place on just such a day; 12 guests were present at Christ’s dinner and the thirteenth was the traitor Judas. It was from then that the superstition began.
• On this day, members of the Templar Order were captured, tortured and burned alive. Since then, combinations of number and day of the week have been considered unlucky.
• There is also a more mystical version: Friday the 13th is the day of the witches’ Sabbath, when evil spirits begin to roam the earth, arranging intrigues for people.

Each version explaining why Friday the 13th is considered a bad day is interesting in its own way.

Astrologers' version

Astrologers also briefly tried to answer the question of why Friday the 13th is considered a bad day. They explained:

• Friday itself is a completely safe day. It is ruled by Venus.
• 13 is the number of the constellation Gemini, ruled by Mercury.

From the point of view of astrology, the combination of day of the week and date does not carry any deep, dangerous properties for humans; there are much more unfavorable days in the year. Therefore, star experts advise not to pay attention, not to try to find out why Friday the 13th is considered a bad date, but to spend this day communicating with family and loved ones.

Signs

Superstitious people believe that important decisions cannot be made on this date. The following facts are known:

• In Britain, surgeons - people seemingly far from religious superstitions - refuse to perform operations on this day.
• The sailors do not start sailing.
• Many Americans try not to leave their homes on this day.

There are many signs that are associated with an unkind number. People who are far from superstitions in everyday life try to adhere to them:

• You should not lend on this day, otherwise you yourself will experience financial difficulties.
• You can’t start a journey, it won’t be easy and it won’t bring you joy.
• You cannot look in a broken mirror, otherwise failure will follow you for 6 years.
• You shouldn't have fun on Friday the 13th - it's a harbinger of imminent sadness.
• On the night of this Friday, you may have prophetic dreams, but you should not retell them to anyone. However, you should definitely listen to the clues of fate.
• Plants planted on this last working day of the week will quickly wither.
• Any risk should be abandoned.

Quite an impressive list of signs and warnings is associated with this seemingly ordinary date. This is why Friday the 13th is a bad day. He is not suitable for beginnings.

Statistics data

Alas, superstitions turned out to be so strong that the number of accidents and other troubles increases exponentially on this date:

• The number of car accidents in the UK on this day is more than 50% more than, for example, the 6th.
• In the USA, the highest percentage of ruins occurs on the 13th, Friday. Many refuse any active action and meekly resign themselves to fate.

These data indicate that people take superstitions very seriously and unwittingly become the cause of their own troubles. Why is Friday the 13th considered an unlucky day? Largely due to the fact that people themselves believe in it and expect trouble. And the energy field of a person focused on failure attracts problems.

Facts from history

However, in the past there is a lot of evidence that this day really brought troubles. Is this a coincidence or a legend? Why is Friday the 13th considered a bad day? Does this have any basis in reality? We invite you to get acquainted with the facts. So, what happened on Friday the 13th in different years:

• In 1204, participants in the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople.
• In 1633, astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived at the Inquisition trial. He was not burned at the stake, but was sentenced to eternal exile.
• In 1772, the British navigator, Captain James Cook, set off on his last voyage. The third expedition around the world ended tragically: Cook was killed by Hawaiian aborigines and partially eaten; the team managed to return only a basket with pieces of human meat and part of a skull - all that was left of the captain.
• Napoleon, superstitious, like a true Corsican, never made important decisions on this day or signed documents.
• 1940 - Nazi aircraft dropped bombs on Buckingham Palace, causing the destruction of the Palace Chapel.
• 1970 - a terrifying hurricane in South Asia killed more than 300 thousand people.
• The plane crash in the Andes, known in history as the “Miracle in the Andes,” occurred in 1972. Cut off from the world, with no hope of salvation, with a minimal supply of food, people struggled for life for more than 2 months. All the money was burned, and the survivors made the difficult decision to eat the frozen bodies of their dead friends and loved ones.
• On the same day, in 1972, another plane crash occurred, the crash of an Il-62 plane, which claimed the lives of 174 people.

These facts illustrate why Friday the 13th is considered a bad day. It was during this period that many terrible events occurred that claimed many human lives.

Born on Friday the 13th

Having considered why Friday the 13th is considered a bad day, we will find out which famous people were born on this date:

• Alfred Hitchcock (1899). The great director and big fan of the horror genre gave the world films that still make your blood run cold when you watch them. He himself was interested in various mystical phenomena and was known as a mysterious person.
• Fidel Castro (1926). The Cuban revolutionary was born on this unlucky day, according to many. However, he himself considered it a good sign.
• Orlando Bloom (1977). The actor considers the mystical number to be his lucky number.
• Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (1986). Twin sisters do not attach much importance to their date of birth, and yet good luck accompanies them in life.
• Robert Pattinson (1986). The famous actor, who played the role of Edward Cullen in the popular Twilight saga, admits in one of his interviews that he is afraid of his date of birth, and if Friday falls on the 13th, he tries not to leave the house.

Examples of celebrities who were born on a mystical date prove that there is nothing bad in the very combination of the number and day of the week. However, if you wait for trouble, it will definitely happen. Trying to prove that Friday the 13th is a bad day, bringing disappointment and misfortune, people often turn to events that happened on this day in different years and even centuries. But we should not forget that various disasters happened on other days of the week.

Friday the 13th In many countries of the world it is considered an unlucky day when various big and small troubles occur. On this day, especially superstitious people generally try not to go out into the street, not to start new things and not to meet unknown people, so as not to become a victim of evil forces..

Baker's dozen

12 is a dozen, and 13 is a “devil’s dozen”, why? This number has long been considered negative in European culture (although, for example, among the Mayan Indians, the number 13 is a lucky number). There are many reasons for dislike of the number 13, most of them relate to mythology or religion. For example, 13 people were present at the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, and the last of them, Judas, ultimately betrayed the Savior. The Scandinavians have a legend that initially 12 gods sat at the heavenly table, but the 13th came - Loki - he started a quarrel, after which numerous misfortunes began.

Then the cause-and-effect relationships got mixed up, and now it is difficult to say, for example, whether 13 is considered unlucky because 13 witches gathered for the Sabbath, or whether so many of them gathered just because the number is demonic. The same applies to the gallows, to which, according to tradition, there are 13 steps, and to 13 ropes - turns of the rope on which the condemned person is hanged.

Fear of the number 13

The superstitious fear of the number 13 even has an unpronounceable scientific name: triskaidekaphobia. It is so common that in many European countries avoidance of the number 13 is widespread. For example, in some buildings there is no 13th floor, and immediately after the 12th there is the 14th or 12A. In opera houses in Italy, sometimes there are no seats with this number, and on almost all ships, after the 12th cabin, the 14th immediately follows. Also, the 13th row is sometimes missing on airplanes.

Previously, there was a superstition, associated precisely with the Last Supper, that if 13 people gathered at the table, the last one who came would soon die. To avoid such an unfortunate set of circumstances, a special “fourteenth guest” was even invited to celebrations and official meetings. And in the USA, for example, due to the superstitiousness of many pilots, there is no F-13 fighter (the YF-12 was immediately followed by the F-14). The 13th number is also not used for cars participating in auto racing.

Friday is an unlucky day, and Friday the 13th is even more so

It is believed that Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday, so this day is unlucky. It's hard to say when these two solitudes, Friday and the number 13, came together to create some super unlucky days of the year. Perhaps the main legend about this day is associated with the Templar Order. This explanation is popular among esotericists and followers of alternative history.

On Friday, October 13, 1307, the French king Philip IV ordered the arrest of all members of the order, including the supreme leaders. A protracted process began, as a result of which the order was dissolved, and many Templars arrested in France were tortured and later executed.

Here is what the French esotericist and occultist Robert Ambelain writes about this: “The day was not chosen by chance. The king chose Friday as the day of Christ's crucifixion. He chose the 13th day of the month - a hint of an unlucky number. 13 was considered a bad number by Homer (Iliad, V) and Cicero (Pro Cecina). In the Hebrew Kabbalah there were 13 Spirits of Evil, and the 13th mentioned in Scripture was Judas, who betrayed Christ."

By the way, on Friday the 13th, terrible events, disasters and catastrophes actually took place in different years, the latest of which was the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015, which claimed the lives of about 150 people. However, on other days, no less great misfortunes happened, so blaming the day of the week that coincided with the “devil” date for everything is unfair.

Signs of Friday the 13th

You cannot start traveling, as the road will be full of unpleasant surprises.

It is better not to get behind the wheel and not to go on the road at all, there is a great danger of an accident.

You should not have surgery on this day.

It is believed that a child born on such a day will have a difficult fate.

If you bury someone on Friday the 13th, you will soon have to bury someone else.

Do not plant anything in the garden on this day - there will be no harvest.

Do not cut your hair - it can be stolen by evil forces and damaged.

Don't take all the superstitions associated with Friday the 13th to heart, because being negative in itself can result in something bad.

Friday, which falls on the 13th, brings superstitious horror to many people. Some people refuse important negotiations and even operations. And some even take a day off to spend this day at home. The majority, of course, is rather indifferent to this. Although they are ready to blame any trouble on this day on Friday the 13th. The editors of amic.ru have collected signs and prohibitions regarding this day. We emphasize right away: do not blindly follow other people’s recommendations. What you believe in yourself comes true.

Why is Friday the 13th considered a scary day?

There are a lot of versions. The amic editors are simply amazed by their diversity. So, even before Christianity, the ancient Romans believed that the number 13 brings destruction and misfortune. Later they began to say that it was on Friday the 13th that witches and various evil spirits held their big ball - a Sabbath, to which Satan himself flew in.

Also, some claim that it was on Friday the 13th that Eve tasted the forbidden fruit and treated Adam to it, for which people were expelled from Paradise, while others are sure that it was on this day that Cain killed Abel and that’s how Death appeared on Earth. In general, there is actually no exact answer to this question. But they talk all sorts of things.

Were there any terrible events on Friday the 13th?

Were. And actually quite a lot. So, it was on Friday, October 13, 1307, that King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of all members of the Templar Order. According to the tradition of that cruel time, almost all those arrested were terribly tortured and executed by burning alive.

On December 13, 1907, the schooner Thomas Laurson, one of the largest ships of that time, was wrecked.

On January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia liner crashed, carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew members.

What not to do on Friday the 13th?

Everyone decides for themselves, focusing on their internal attitudes and superstitions. But most often superstitious people are sure that on this day it is impossible to:

get behind the wheel and go on a long journey - the journey will be full of troubles;

wash and cut nails;

plant or replant plants - they will not grow and may die;

borrow money - there is a risk that it will not be returned to you;

some try not to schedule interviews on this day;

before going to bed on the night of Friday the 13th, you should not look in the mirror for a long time;

play weddings;

look around when you leave work on Friday the 13th. (We in the editorial office liked this “no” the most.)

And they also say that the signs associated with black cats and empty buckets are especially true on this day, and computer viruses are especially aggressive. And yes, in some countries doctors postpone operations scheduled for this day.

How to survive Friday the 13th?

In fact, it’s simple - live. But seriously, don’t give in to various superstitions, tune in to the good things and treat this day as an ordinary one. Psychologists say that we ourselves attract many troubles when we prepare ourselves for something bad in advance.

Play pranks on your friends and colleagues, watch good movies, listen to good music. And one more thing: several years ago, Dutch scientists studied what events take place on Friday the 13th. And it turned out that this day was even safer than all the others. Because people are acting with more caution than usual.