Why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky? Tracing tradition this Defy Superstition Day
Everybody knows that Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky. But when and how did this creep into the collective conscience and is it even valid?
Every once in a while the 13th day of a month will just so happen to fall on a Friday and lo and behold you find yourself living through a Friday the 13th. For the skeptics and naysayers this may form the butt of jokes but for the believers, walking on eggshells is the brief they follow through the day. But what does Friday the 13th really mean? How did everybody, either sarcastically or literally, dub it to be an 'unlucky' overlap? Let's get into some age old lore.
The debrief
Right off the bat, the exact origins of Friday the 13th can't be pinpointed with a 100 percent surety. But the lore appears to have sustained travels through many seas and ages, and continues to flicker strong today. The first inkling of the number 13's allegedly ominous nature is in Norse mythology, as explored in Charles Panati's book Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. The story goes that Loki, the God of mischief, broke into Asgard's majestic Valhalla during a banquet. This brought up the number of attendees to 13. What ensued was an unfortunate series of events whereby the blind God Hodr ended up shooting his brother Balder, the God of light, radiance, joy, purity, peace, and forgiveness with an arrow, killing him instantly.
The domino effect of this made its way to Europe, with the number 13's energy encrusting itself in one of the most trying passages of The Bible. The momentous Last Supper was held on a Thursday (now known as Maundy Thursday in reference to the Last Supper). the 13th guest to arrive was none other than Judas Iscariot, the disciple who eventually betrayed Jesus. Jesus was crucified the very next day, a Friday.
13 may be 'unlucky' but what about Fridays?
Mythologically speaking, Fridays don't really rank high on the list of the week's 'luckier' days. A CNN report lists the alarming string of unbecoming events, all of which took place on a Friday. Be it Adam and Eve eating the forbidden apple, Cain murdering his brother Abel or even the toppling of the Temple of Solomon — each of these took place across Fridays.
Mythology soon enough found its way into literary relics, further cementing the questionable reputation of Friday the 13th. The first known book to breath fictional life into this theme was Thomas William Lawson Friday, the Thirteenth. First released in 1907, the book traced the manipulations of a New York City stockbroker who leveraged the anxieties surrounding the date to his own advantage. Speaking of films, there is no need to look beyond the 12-title strong Friday the 13th franchise. The first film released in 1980 but the paranoia and thrill the slasher flick spun has enjoyed quite an enduring legacy, alive and kicking even today.
It's a matter of perception
If there is one thing the paralleling accounts from mythical retellings the world over has made clear, it's that there are always two (or more) sides to a coin. In Pagan culture for instance, Fridays have been associated with nurturing feminine energies. As a matter of fact, many believe that the fifth weekday being coined 'Friday', is actually a reference to Goddess Frigg (or Frigga) whose domain is love, marriage and motherhood.
A similar, revered association also stands traced to Goddess Freyja, whose domains are love, fertility and war. This reverence in itself paints Fridays in a much more optimistic light, mythically speaking.
Not just this, the potency of the number 13 has also found itself reflected in keynote art. Take the Venus of Laussel, on display at the Musée d'Aquitaine in France's Bordeaux for instance. The 18.11-inch-high limestone sculptural relief of a nude woman is still considered to be a potent symbol of fertility. The woman can be seen cradling her pregnant stomach as she uplifts a horn with exactly 13 lines carved across it.
Zooming ahead to more contemporary times, could there possibly be a bigger mascot for the number 13 than Taylor Swift? As a matter of fact, the pop icon had even addressed the same during a 2009 interview with Jay Leno. She said, "I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. My first No. 1 song had a 13-second intro. Every time I’ve won an award I’ve been seated in either the 13th seat, the 13th row, the 13th section or row M, which is the 13th letter. Basically, whenever a 13 comes up in my life, it’s a good thing".
While many may laugh off the anxieties associated with Friday the 13th, this day can be truly trying for some. Think paraskevidekatriaphobia which is quite literally a morbid fear of the date, Friday the 13th.
Regardless, however you may feel about the date, we hope it treats you well!