As today is Friday 13th, I thought I’d share with you a couple of superstitions that are connected with this date.
Friday is said to be the day that Christ was crucified, Judas hanged himself and it is the day that Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Accordingly, it is considered to be the unluckiest day of the week, and clothes made on a Friday week reputedly not fit the wearer.
It is not a good day to undertake a new project, move house or start a new job, and on no account should an important journey be started on a Friday.
In the days of capital punishment in the UK, hangings were usually carried out on a Friday. It’s also considered an inauspicious day to be married or to give birth. Children born on a Friday may be burdened with more of their fair share of misfortunes in life.
Should a Friday fall on the thirteenth of the month, it is especially to be feared.
But why?
The number 13 is the number of people at the Last Supper, and superstition has it that it is unlucky to have 13 guests at a dinner party. Many hotels do not have a room number 13, and many tsk buildings do not have a 13th floor.
Washing one’s hair on the thirteenth of the month will bring a male child, and the thirteenth card in the major arcana of the tarot deck is the card for death.
I don’t personally bother too much with superstitions, but for some reason, Friday the 13th is the only one that has the power to check me from time to time.
How about you? Is there something in it do you think, or is it just a load of old wives tales designed by the early church to make people toe the line?
As ever, I’m interested in your thoughts.
Mushy Cloud 
Honestly, I think the whole Friday the 13th is little more than the church keeping the people in line. Back in the Dark Ages, and possibly further, the church, and royalty, were known for making rumors to keep the peasants from doing too much on their own.
I mean, sure, bad things have happened on Friday the 13th, but that is coincidental at the most. It’s how we think of it that makes this day good or bad. As a lover of black cats (and I usually have one in my home) a day like this is my bread and butter. So many supersticious people and lots of ‘misfortune’ to use as inspiration in my own writing.
Yes, because of my love for black cats, many supersticious people think I am a witch. Or… worse. >;)
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I don’t worry about it.
I may make a casual, humour-tinged reference to it, but then carry on as normal.
More fool me?
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It’s all a bit of nonsense. It’s the 17th in Italy and I’ve just read that there was no written record of this superstition before the 1860’s.
As for bad things happening, there are 2or3 Friday 13’s every year so there’s a 1 in 100 or 200 chance of a bad thing happening on that day. That’s not too big a chance.
Just a bit of fun or yet another focus for face bookers to OMG about.
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Old wives tales. It has never been unlucky for me. Interesting facts you found, though. I have never heard of most of them.
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I’m with the rest of the commenters. Friday the 13th has never been a big deal to me. I figure that it occurs just as often as Monday the 13th, and Tuesday the 13th etc. 😉 Anyway, interesting facts about Friday the 13th superstitions. I hadn’t heard most of them before!
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It’s not something I particularly feel strongly about one way or another, but I can guarantee that if several “unlucky” things happen on an “unlucky day” then I will pin it right down the date haha!! When I was looking up the facts to compose this post I came across so many other barmy suggestions that I can see me doing another couple of posts on this subject. Things like “it’s unlucky to put a hat on the bed because it signifies there will be a death soon”. I think that one stems from the fact that when the Doctor visited at home back in the day, he would arrive in a rush to see his patient and usually wouldn’t have time to politely remove his hat as he entered the house, so would put it down on the patient’s bed when he examined them. How on earth people come up with these “beliefs” is amazingly comical sometimes!
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