Friday the 13th: Why people consider it unlucky; know its weird history, evolution, and incidents
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th:In Western culture, Friday the 13th is considered an inauspicious day. A few people know that the fear of Friday the 13th has a name, paraskevidekatriaphobia, which originates from the word Triskadekaphobia, meaning the fear of the number 13.
Several cultures consider 13 as an unlucky number. According to the Christian faith, there were 13 people at Jesus' Last Supper. Norse mythology also has a story of Loki, who ruined a dinner party by arriving as an uninvited 13th guest and causing mayhem. A superstition from the 1770s says that if 13 people were sitting at a table, one would die within a year.
Furthermore, many cultures worldwide consider Friday as an unlucky day. Sailors strongly believe it is inauspicious to set sail on a Friday, as Jesus' crucifixion happened on Friday, and Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit on Friday.
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Thus, putting the two together makes the epitome of unlucky. However, Friday the 13th did not become famous until the 19th century.
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The first documented mention of Friday the 13th was in a play calledLes Finesses des Gribouillesin 1834. A character says, "I was born on Friday, 13 December 1813, from which come all my misfortunes." Then, TW Lawson popularised the concept in his 1907 novelFriday, the Thirteenth.
Although the origin of Friday the 13th is blurry, some believe it stems from the Code of Hammurabi. It is an ancient Babylonian text which omits 13 in its list of laws.
From natural disasters to murder, many horrible incidents happened on Friday the 13th. On 13 October 1307, King Philip Iv of France arrested hundreds of Knights Templar and executed them. On 13 September 1940, the Germans bombed the Buckingham Palace.
Other incidents include the murder of Kitty Genovese on 13 March 1964 and the disappearance of a Chilean Air Force Plane in the Andes on 13 October 1972.
The most recent Friday the 13th incidents include Tupac Shakur's murder in Las Vegas in 1996 and the Costa Concordia cruise ship crashing off in Italy in 2012.
However, these might be coincidences. According to a study published in 2015, there was no statistical difference in employment, income or marital status among people born on Friday the 13th and people born on other days.
(With inputs from agencies)
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