Friday 13th, why so bad?

Factual Questions
1

From a luck point of view? Anything happen on Friday 13th many years ago?

2

IIRC correctly it’s a merge of two different superstitions… the first being that sailors are never supposed to set sail on a Friday, the second being related to the number 13, which has crept up in various superstions over the years.

If you believe in both of these (and perhaps live in the 1600s), Friday the 13th offer an increased chance of you having some serious bad luck.

I don’t have a cite, I’m pulling this from memory, so take it for what you will.

3

Ok, so shoot me for answering my own post, but it did get me to thinking… then Googling.

This article offers some good theories, but the underlying answer to the OP is “nobody knows”.

It seems the number 13 has always been associated with misfortune and bad luck (except for the ancient Chinese and Egyptian) and Fridays have always had a bum rap too (Jesus’ crucifiction, executions in ancient Rome, the destruction of the Temple of Solomon were all said to have happened on a Friday).

In modern times, Friday is the most common day of the week for people to get fired.

And oh, yeah, that guy in the hocky mask who keeps chopping people up… :wink:

4

The Master speaks on the topic Why is the number 13 considered unlucky? (pointing out that unlucky 13 is pretty much a Christian invention).

Throw in Friday as the day of the crucifixion of Jesus and you have the basis of the superstition. (Fridays would not have been unlucky in Republican or early Imperial Rome because the Romans did not begin reckoning a seven-day week until after the Christians and exiled Jews began introducing that Middle Eastern concept.)

5

Here’s Snopes’ page: http://www.snopes.com/luck/friday13.asp

6

My favorite story along these lines is the one that Christopher Columbus didn’t really spot the New World on Thursday, October 12, 1492, but on Friday, October 13, 1492. Knowing that the day would seem horribly inauspicious, he changed his journal.

Don’t ask me how the tale teller knew this piece of info. And since they were still using the Julian calendar, I’m not going to try to go back to figure out whether October 13, 1492, was even on a Friday in the first place.