Jack told me this week that a week from this Friday, will be Friday the 13th. We will only have two of those this year, next Friday and October 13, which also falls on a Friday, of course.
According to a column I wrote in 2012, a year with three Fridays that fall on the 13th only seems to happen just once in every 14 years – 1984, 1998, and 2012. Sounds like that would mean the next “unlucky” year will be in 2026, but I just read that 2015 also had three: a Friday the 13th in February, March, and November.
2017 through 2020 had two Friday the 13ths each; 2016, 2021 and 2022 had just one occurrence of Friday the 13th each; and the next two years – 2023 and 2024 – will have two Friday the 13th dates each.
All those supposedly “unlucky days” make a lot of people nervous, but I think we couldn’t have had a worse year than 2022, and it only had one Friday the 13th…in May.
According to Almanac.com, “The maximum number of Friday the 13ths possible in a single year is three, which happens in February, March, and November whenever a normal year starts on Thursday.
This event also happens whenever a leap year starts on a Sunday, like in 2012 (the year the world was supposed to end, according to superstition).”
Despite superstition, the economy is the worst it has been in years and the public’s trust in the federal government continues to be at historically low levels no matter what day of the week the 13th falls on.
No wonder, when the two major parties in the government bicker on an almost daily basis, and, rather than keep the emphasis on doing what is best for the American people, act like children refusing to “play nice” together.
But, back to the subject of bad luck on a Friday the 13th or, if you are superstitious or a sufferer of paraskevidekatriaphobia, a fear of Friday the 13th (the term coined by Psychotherapist Donald Dossey, who specializes in the treatment of phobias), you might want to stay at home next Friday.
Dossey said there may be as many as 21 million people out there with this phobia, or at least eight percent of Americans “in the grip of a very old superstition.”
The sixth day of the week – Friday – is already considered unlucky. The number 13 is considered unlucky and the two together make for an even unluckier Friday, some say.
Where did it all come from? The sixth day of the week and the number 13 both have foreboding reputations that date from ancient times.
Friday has been consider unlucky since the 14th century’s “The Canterbury Tales,” and may have been considered unlucky because according to the Bible, Jesus was crucified on a Friday.
“Black Friday” has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s.
October 13, 1307 became a Friday the 13th that was a synonym for ill fortune when King Phillip IV of France ordered mass arrests in a dawn raid of several thousand Templars, who were charged with heresy, blasphemy and obscenities, an excuse for torture and executions.
Twelve is considered a “good number.” There are twelve months in the year, 12 hours on the clock, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus and 12 Descendants of Muhammad Imams. The number 13 however is considered odd or irregular. There is also a Norse myth that claims having thirteen people seated at a table will result in one diner’s death.
No one is certain why, but according to some sources, the belief that Friday the 13th is doubly unlucky is the most widespread superstitions in the United States today.
Some people refuse to go to work on Friday the 13th; some won’t eat in restaurants; many wouldn’t think of setting a wedding on the date.
It’s a good thing I don’t consider myself one of those “eight percent” who are ultra-superstitious. Otherwise I would probably be tempted to stay in bed next Friday to keep from: breaking a mirror, walking under a ladder, spilling the salt or spotting a black cat in the act of crossing my path.
I’m not superstitous, but it could be a day best spent at home with doors locked, shutters and curtains closed and fingers crossed…