Saturday, January 14, 2012

Friday the 13th

'Ello Blahggers!

So, since yesterday was the first Friday the 13th of three this year, I've decided to do a series of posts about it. I'm sure that most of you are familiar with the myth that Friday the 13th is a day filled with bad luck and bad things! Well, I'm here to tell you about the history of that!!
For starters, if you're afraid of Friday the 13th, you suffer from Friggatriskaidekaphobia. Yes, that's a real phobia, in case you're wondering. (Sometimes it's called Paraskevidekatriaphobia.) I know that sounds crazy but those are based off of Greek and Latin words and I'm not going to go into detail about 'cause it confuses me...I will on the next Friday 13 post.

Some people are actually so scared of this day that they don't even get out of bed. It's been estimated that 17 to 21 MILLION people are affected by it, making Friday the 13th the most feared date in history!

Another quick interesting tidbit before I actually get into the history of Friday 12: it isn't Friday the 13th in Greece and Spanish-speaking countries. Instead, it's Tuesday the 12the that they find incredibly unlucky.

If you actually look at the number of time the 13th occurs on any given day of the week, believe it or not, Friday is the most common day the 13th lands on.

There have been numerous scientific studies about Friday the 13th. Some have come up with the conclusion that there is absolutely nothing different about the day than any others. Others swing either way for the day, some good, and some bad.


Alright, are you ready for this??? THE DEEP HISTORY OF FRIDAY THE 13TH!!!!

Actually, there isn't any written evidence before the 19th century of a Friday the 13th superstition. So far, the earliest known record of one is in an 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini by Henry Sutherland Edwards. There are a lot of different theories as to how the Friday the 13th superstition began. One of them being that it's a combination of two different, and much older superstitions: Friday is an unlucky day and thirteen is an unlucky number.

The number 12 is supposed to be really good luck since it's a number of completion. (There are 12: months in a year, hours on a clock, god of Olympus, tribes of Israel, Apostles of Jesus, Descendants of Muhammad Imams, and the list goes on and on.) However, the number 13 is irregular and disrupts the completeness of the number 12. It's said that when 13 people are sitting at a table, one of the people eating will die. (A myth that's derived from the Last Supper.)

As for Friday being unlucky, well, people have thought that since the 14th century! A lot of people find it a bad idea to travel on Friday or start a new project. The most famous Friday of the year is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Sadly, Black Friday hasn't always been the best day of the year for businesses. Many stock market crashes have been recorded.

It's very rare to find any record of the Friday the 13th superstition before the 20th century, when the idea became rather popular. There a SO many superstitions that it's hard to count. I'll go into those details in a later post, but, for now, I'll finish this off with a list of the top ten superstitions according to lifescript.com:

10 - Saying "God bless you" after someone sneezes


9  - Black cats


8  - Tossing spilled salt over your left shoulder


7  - Knocking on wood


6  - Opening an umbrella inside


5  - Finding a horseshoe


4  - Breaking a mirror


3  - Walking under a ladder


2  - Itchy palm


1  - FRIDAY THE 13TH


Well, that's the end of the first of three Friday the 13th posts. Like I said previously, the next one will go into more detail about the fear of Friday the 13th (and some other cool/funny phobias that are floating around out there) and the third and final Friday 13 post in this series will be focused completely on superstitions. Until then, good luck on the day of bad luck!!!

GuardianSakura
((The Daily Blahgger))
The Dreaded Friday the 13th!

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