There are a huge number of superstitions and signs in the world. Friday the 13th of any month is one of the most ominous dates. All the strange incidents that marked this day on this day are associated with her. The term “Friday the 13th” became famous after the release of a series of horror films of the same name.
Ominous date - Friday the 13th
Many people prefer not to make important appointments on this date, or put off serious matters. Paraskavedekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th.. This phobia is quite common, affecting more than sixty million people. Those who have a severe form of the disease prefer to spend this date at home, behind closed doors, not answering phone calls, completely limiting communication with the outside world, or even not getting out of bed to avoid trouble.
Number 13 is a symbol of dark forces
Friday the 13th falls once every two hundred and twelve days and is a mystical date in many countries with different cultures. A myth around the number “thirteen” itself arose in the Middle Ages. It is believed to be a symbol of the Devil. According to old beliefs, it is on this mystical date that the Sabbath takes place, to which twelve witches flock, and at the height of the celebration, Satan joins them. Therefore, the number was called the “devil’s dozen.”
In the esoteric teaching called Kabbalah, there are thirteen evil spirits.
In Christian culture, the number thirteen was also considered ominous. It was Judas who was the thirteenth apostle who betrayed his teacher Jesus. This fact is described in the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of John. Apocalypse or revelations of John the Theologian? this is the last, thirteenth book of the New Testament.
Christ was crucified on Friday, this is a proven historical fact. It was on this day that Adam and Eve were expelled from paradise because they ate the forbidden fruit. And Abel raised his hand against his brother Cain.
Historical facts that give Friday the thirteenth even more negative include the arrest of members of the Templar Order, which occurred in 1307. It was a fairly powerful organization, whose members were famous and wealthy people. Almost seven hundred years ago, the French king Philip, on Friday, October thirteenth, gave the order to capture and exterminate the knights of this order. Soon after their arrest, the Holy Inquisition declared them heretics and sentenced them to death by burning. This sentence was carried out and made Friday the 13th an even more ominous and mysterious day.
At the end of the eighteenth century, the English authorities built a ship called “Friday”. This name was invented in order to prove to the residents of England that the terrible superstition is absurd. Work on the construction of the ship began on Friday the 13th. It was decided to launch it on the same date. After the ship went beyond the horizon, no one ever saw it again. Its entire crew was declared missing.
Friday the 13th marked two more famous shipwrecks. On Friday, December 13th, 1907, the unique schooner Thomas W. Lawson was caught in a storm and sank. Its construction was initiated by the shipowner Crowley, who was the namesake of the then famous occultist. According to one version, this ship was named after the author of the then-famous novel “Friday the 13th”, in which the author described stock exchange scams that took place on this day, taking advantage of the fact that many people were afraid of the ominous date. But this fact has not been confirmed, since the schooner was launched in 1902, and the novel was published in 1907.
On the night of Friday January 13, 2013, off the coast of Italy, the cruise ship Costa Concordia hit a reef and partially sank. About four thousand people went on a trip on it. The crash occurred shortly after departure, and passengers did not have time to receive a full briefing.
But the sailors of Spain and Portugal still consider Friday the 13th a favorable day, since on this day Christopher Columbus set out on his journey, and it was marked by the discovery of America.
In Indiana, one of the American states, a law was passed according to which on Friday the 13th, owners of black cats must put collars with bells on them before letting them out for a walk.
On January 13, 1989, a computer virus called “Friday the 13th” infected many personal computers in England. Since few people had encountered viruses at that time, this caused terrible panic among users. As a result, the antivirus industry began to actively develop. But to this day, according to statistics, more virus attacks occur on Friday the 13th than on other days. Thus, launching virus attacks has become a kind of tradition among hackers.
In 1970, in February, the famous group Black Sabbath, whose work was associated with the occult, released their album entitled “Friday the 13th.” The album rose to thirteenth place on the charts and marked the beginning of a new musical direction, the name of which translates as “heavy metal.”
According to statistics, more road accidents occur on this date in the UK than on other days. But in Holland these days their numbers are decreasing as people become more attentive. Surgeons try not to perform planned operations on this day, doctors? Quite superstitious people, they are sure that the risk of complications and failures increases.
The famous Dutch composer Arnold Schemberg suffered from paraskevedekatriaphobia. His date of birth was the thirteenth of September. He had been afraid of this number all his life. His birthday in 1951 was Friday, July 13th. The composer did not get out of bed all day and did not say a word. Before midnight, his wife began to start a conversation with him. The composer died as soon as he said the first word; on this day he turned seventy-six years old.
His Italian colleague Gioachino Antonio Rossini, who wrote more than forty operas, was also afraid of the number 13 and considered it unlucky. He died on Friday, October 13, 1968.
For those who love to travel, it will be interesting that on Friday the thirteenth, flight tickets are twenty percent cheaper, due to the fact that on this day the number of passengers decreases significantly. On the thirteenth, on other days of the week, plane prices are reduced by ten percent.
Psychologists observed a large group of people and drew attention to the fact that this particular date mysteriously affects the human psyche. People on this day are much more prone to taking unnecessary risks.
For those who are afraid of this ominous date, it would be a good idea to visit church on this day and remember that in the culture of China and India the number “thirteen” is considered lucky. In Greece, Tuesday the 13th is an unlucky day, and in Spain they do not like the number 17. Even superstitious people need to remember that if you do not believe in bad omens, they will not come true, and then the ominous date will turn out to be an ordinary happy day.
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Friday the 13th - start a tradition of relaxing with your cat
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What does Friday the 13th mean, what happens on this day, when will the next Friday the 13th happen and why you shouldn’t be afraid of them.
Friday the 13th is considered to be a day of troubles, when supposedly you need to be prepared for all sorts of failures, and the best way to prepare for them is to do nothing. Scientists, including psychologists and doctors, consider superstitions and beliefs associated with Friday the 13th, a phobia, a special case of fear of the number 13, which received its own name - paraskavedekatriaphobia, which is based on the Greek words παρασκευή (Friday) and δεκατρία (thirteen). According to the scientist who proposed it, Dossey, if you can say such a term several times without hesitation, your fear of Friday the 13th will disappear on its own.
The number 13 is popular in occult studies / Photo: Bee Felten-Leidel / Unsplash
Culturologists note that this superstition is relatively young - no mention of Friday the 13th is found until the second half of the 19th century. What then about the “biblical legends”, according to which, “it was on Friday the 13th that Eve tasted the forbidden fruit and gave it to Adam. On the same date, Cain killed his brother Abel. Jesus Christ was also crucified on Friday.” The conclusion suggests itself - they appeared no earlier than the 19th century.
Friday and the number 13 were united into one belief only in the 19th century / Photo: Mallory Johndrow / Unsplash
Interestingly, one of the first mentions of Friday the 13th is found in the English-language biography of the composer Rossini: “until the end of his days he was surrounded by the love and sympathy of friends. And if it is true that he, like many Italians, considered Friday to be a day of bad luck, and thirteen to be the number of bad luck, it is noteworthy that he died on Friday, November 13th.” This happened in 1868.
Other “bad” days and numbers
In Spanish-speaking countries, Tuesday is considered a “bad” day, and especially Tuesday the 13th. The Greeks also adhere to this belief.
In Italy, Friday the 17th is considered an unlucky day, while the number 13 can bring good luck.
In China, they panicky avoid the number 4 - they try not to even write the “devil’s number”.
Friday the 17th is considered an unlucky day among Italians / Photo: Fabian Albert / Unsplash
What does Friday the 13th mean and what happens on this day
First of all, they expect and fear trouble. In this regard, the following signs of Friday the 13th appeared:
- It is not advisable to go somewhere on Friday the 13th, “after all, you may not return.” On this day, serious transactions, signing documents, and making important decisions are avoided.
- Medical operations are also recommended to be postponed if possible.
- Protect yourself from unwanted temptations - those that can cause harm.
What happened on Friday the 13th
On Friday the 13th a number of events and disasters occurred, among which the following stand out:
End of the Aztec Empire (August 13, 1521); bombing of Buckingham Palace (September 13, 1940); the crash of the Douglas C-54 airliner, during which all 50 passengers on board were killed (June 13, 1947); superstorm in South Asia, killing 300 thousand people (November 13, 1970); The crash of an Il-62 airliner near Moscow, killing 174 people, was the world's worst air disaster at the time. On the same day, FH-227 crashed in the Andes (October 13, 1972); computer virus Friday the 13th (January 13, 1989); the crash of the Costa Concordia liner, with 4,200 passengers and crew on board (January 13, 2012); terrorist attacks in Paris (November 13, 2015).
At the same time, researchers claim that the likelihood of incidents does not increase on this day. And some research suggests that the number of accidents is even falling, perhaps because more people are being more careful.
Whether you believe that Friday the 13th is a bad day or not, if you have the opportunity to organize a day without major decisions and free yourself from work, then why not do it? It is possible that thanks to this tradition, Friday the 13th will eventually begin to be considered the day that brings.
When is next Friday the 13th?
There is probably no person who does not believe in omens, accidents and coincidences. He may not recognize them, but everyone has something of their own, verified by personal experience. For example, you shouldn’t get up on your left foot, return home for a forgotten item, sew up clothes for the trip... this list can be extended to hundreds, and sometimes we adhere to many things without even realizing it. But there is another superstition associated with one day.
Friday the 13th.
Why did it become fashionable to tremble with fear of “Friday the 13th”, call it “the day of Satan” and expect evil tricks from the dark forces? They say it all started with the Templars, who were executed on this very day. Let's try to figure out where the superstitions about the mystical properties of Friday the 13th came from, and should we be afraid of this day?!
There are several versions about the origin of the mystical power of Friday the 13th. The most popular explanation is given by the Last Supper, in which 13 people took part - Jesus and 12 of his disciples. The thirteenth was the traitor Judas.
Another explanation is that witch conclaves always consisted of thirteen participants. Court records do not always confirm this rule, but the people firmly believed in it. It is believed that on this day all ghouls, witches and other evil spirits gather for a demonic Sabbath from all over the world.
Friday was also “guilty” of the fact that, according to legend, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and were expelled from paradise on this very day.
There is another version: 700 years ago, the most powerful and richest organization in Europe, the Order of the Templars, ceased to exist. Militant monks built roads, fought wars, and financed the construction of Gothic cathedrals. But in 1307 they disappeared from the historical arena as mysteriously as they appeared on it. One day, April 13, Friday, they were all captured, put behind bars, and then burned at the stake of the Inquisition.
Some astrologers believe that the number 13 itself, according to numerology, is the beginning of everything new. In the Middle Ages, in contrast to the dozen - the number 12 - people involved in dark affairs decided to “invent” the devil’s dozen, which is designated by the number 13. Friday as a negative day in combination with the “devil” number was chosen because dreams from Thursday to Friday are considered prophetic.
The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia, it is a special form of the disease. For reference, we note that the term “phobia” goes back to Phobos, the god of fear. And they talk about phobias when a person finds himself in the power of the “god of fear,” that is, fear controls him, and he does not control fear.
Note that Friday the 13th is considered unlucky by many.
The Americans turned out to be the most impressionable in terms of superstitions. A large number of high-rise buildings in the United States do not have a 13th floor. After the 12th comes the 14th. Many airports do not have a 13th gate. Some airlines remove this day from their flight schedules. In hospitals and hotels there is no 13th ward and 13th room. Together with other facts, every time on Friday the 13th the US economy suffers losses of $800–900 million. After all, making purchases on this day is considered a bad sign.
And in Britain, surgeons are afraid of Friday the 13th. Some of them are canceling operations scheduled for that day. British doctors are confident that the risk of failure doubles on Friday the 13th. In cinemas there is no chair number 13. And in France there is a tradition: if 13 people gather for lunch, they put the 14th chair and put a mannequin on it, which is served like the rest.
By the way, it was the thirteenth pillar of the Paris tunnel that the car carrying Princess Diana crashed into. In 1970, the Apollo 13 spacecraft aborted its flight to the Moon due to the explosion of an oxygen tank on board. It launched on April 13 at 13:13 from launch pad No. 39 (three times 13).
There are several cases of strange coincidences of the number 13 in the fate of quite famous personalities. For example Richard Wagner. The number thirteen haunted me all my life. His name is written in Latin letters, consists of thirteen letters, and he was born in 1813. On October 13 (Friday), he heard Weber's opera "Freeshot", which had a great influence on him. Throughout his life, he wrote 13 operas, no more, no less. The opera Tannhäuser (which he completed on April 13, 1844) failed in Paris on March 13, 1861, but was rehabilitated there on May 13, 1895. The Riga theater, where Wagner began his service as bandmaster, opened on September 13, 1837, and his own theater in Bayreth opened on August 13. He died in the thirteenth year of German unity, and the day of his death was February 13th. Mysticism, and that’s all.
It was on Friday the 13th that the once all-powerful “master of Chicago,” the famous American gangster Al Capone, was arrested and sentenced to prison. On Friday, September 13, 1996, in the famous city of gambling, Las Vegas, the popular musician and composer Tupac Shakur was killed, having previously managed to happily escape several serious assassination attempts. But on Friday the 13th, the killer’s bullets still caught up with him.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1804-1815) on this day refrained from conducting military operations and, like a true Corsican, was not deprived of superstitious fear. As you can see, the French emperor was not alone, the German statesman Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) nicknamed the “Iron Chancellor”, the English Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) and the oil magnate Jean Paul Getty (1892-1976) never signed this day of no contracts or agreements.
The German poet, thinker and natural scientist Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) preferred to spend Friday the 13th in bed, just in case. It would seem that he was an enlightened man, the author of the famous “Faust,” but he was terribly superstitious.
Austrian composer Arnold Schonberg (1874-1951), inventor of 12-tone music, spent Friday, July 13, 1951, locked in bed, shaking with fear. A quarter of an hour before midnight, his wife Gertrude looked in on him: “Soon everything will be over.” Schonberg raised his head slightly, whispered the word “harmony” and... died. Time of death: 13 minutes to midnight. He was 76 years old, 13 in total. And he was born on September 13, 1874.
However, the number 13 is considered auspicious in Kabbalah and among the Mayans.
A Jewish boy undergoes his Bar Mitzvah at the age of thirteen.
In English, 13 is often called "the baker's dozen." The origin of this name is due to the fact that in the Middle Ages, bakers, fearing the severe punishments in force at that time for deceiving customers (up to cutting off a hand), usually added an extra unit of goods to each dozen sold, so as not to accidentally shortchange themselves.
And I wish you not to believe prejudices, remember that your ancestors on your grandmother’s side were Mayan Indians, and enjoy Friday, August 13th!
most widely distributed throughout the world. These include superstitions associated with Friday, which falls on the 13th of the month. This superstition is known to almost everyone and many people believe in it. Everyone is familiar with the situation when people, frightened by scary stories about Friday the 13th, associate every fall, every failure and every misfortune with this day. Even if your car breaks down, the electricity in your house is turned off, or you get fired from your job, it turns out that all this is not without reason.
A little bit of history
Some, especially superstitious people, lock themselves at home for the whole day on Friday the 13th, do not answer phone calls, do not look out the window and do not open the door to anyone, waiting impatiently for the minute when this day will end.
Friday the 13th In many cultures it is considered a day of failure and misfortune, a devil's day. The historical development of this superstition is associated not only with the unlucky 13th number, the so-called “Devil's Dozen,” but also with Friday - the fifth day of the week - but initially there was no connection between them. Where did this superstition come from?
The combination of Friday and the 13th, which strikes fear into many people, originates in ancient times. If you believe the oldest beliefs, then on this day 12 witches always flocked to the Sabbath, ghouls and other evil spirits gathered, and at the height of the fun, when the full moon rose, Satan himself appeared thirteenth. In Christian culture, it is believed that it was on Friday the 13th that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit; It was on this ominous Friday that Cain mercilessly killed his brother Abel. The crucifixion of Christ took place on Friday. The thirteenth apostle at the Last Supper was Judas, who betrayed Christ.
Since ancient times, Friday the 13th has been called “black”. Another basis for this superstition is the real historical fact that on Friday April 13, 1307, a large number of members of a very rich and powerful organization at that time - the Order of the Templars - were caught and arrested. They were thrown into prison, and after a short time, they were burned at the hot bonfires of the Holy Inquisition as heretics. Since then, the tension around Friday the 13th, overshadowed by this story, has intensified and acquired many superstitions, riddles and secrets.
At the end of the 18th century, the superstition about Friday the 13th became so strongly entrenched in the minds of the English people that the authorities decided to publicly prove the absurdity of this terrible omen. For this purpose, a ship was built under the “black” name “Friday”. Its construction began on Friday the 13th. It was also launched on Friday the 13th, and in front of the general public, again on Friday the 13th, the ship went out to sea. Since then, no one has seen the Friday again: the ship and its crew went missing.
Since that time, the old sign about “Black” Friday still forces many sailors around the world to postpone going to the open sea on this day under any pretext.
What signs are associated with Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th is also associated with one of the most notorious shipwrecks of the 20th century, which shocked the imagination of many Americans. On Friday, December 13, 1907, one of the largest ships at that time - the seven-masted schooner Thomas Laurson, built in 1902 - crashed on underwater reefs.
It is interesting that Spanish and Portuguese sailors, on the contrary, consider Friday the 13th to be a very favorable day for sailing. This is explained by the fact that Christopher Columbus began his historic voyage to the shores of the still unknown America on Friday.
In addition to sailors, many surgeons are afraid of Friday the 13th. Some doctors do not schedule operations on this day, and already scheduled operations are postponed to any other day. English doctors are convinced that the risk of failure of an operation performed on Friday the 13th doubles.
This superstition has not escaped computer users, who consider “Black Friday” the most dangerous day in terms of virus attacks. At the dawn of the computer era, many creators of virus programs installed a mechanism for triggering the malicious properties of the virus on this very day.
According to the laws of the American state of Indiana, on Friday the 13th, all owners of black cats, when letting their pets out for a walk, are required to put on collars with ringing bells.
An interesting fact is that the 13th of the month falls on a Friday more often than on any other day of the week.
To avoid the terrible consequences of Friday the 13th, according to popular belief, you just need to visit church on this day.
The fear of Friday the 13th unites many. Indeed, regardless of culture, humanity continues to believe in a strange pattern: on Friday the 13th there is no need to arrange any important things, everything will go to waste anyway, and if it doesn’t, then some terrible thing will still happen. But where did this frightening superstition come from and should we really be afraid of an otherwise ordinary day?
Economic damage
Every year the world loses between $700 million and $800 million just because of Friday the 13th. People simply refuse to carry on with business as usual, many are postponing important business decisions and many are rescheduling flights. Additionally, nearly 80% of buildings worldwide skip the 13th floor, airports avoid parking planes at Gate 13 (this led to an airliner crash in 1983), and hospitals choose not to use Gate 13.
last supper
First of all, the Last Supper will be important to our culture. The 13th guest and final apostle, Judas, betrayed Jesus - at least according to the Bible. The crucifixion of the “Savior” also took place on Friday, and on Friday Eve seduced Adam. The latter, however, we have ceased to be afraid of.
Code of Hammurabi
But the story of the fear of the number 13 did not even begin with this. This is the number of articles in the ancient Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, the Egyptians believed that the afterlife was divided into 13 stages, and the ancient Chinese avoided the same number because they were afraid of a demonic curse.
Scandinavians
There is a similar story in Scandinavian mythology. 12 gods, led by Odin himself, decided to hold a feast, but did not invite Loki. He burst into the celebration, and they did not drive him away. But that same evening Balder, the god of joy and happiness, suddenly died.
Phillip the Handsome
Much, much later, King Philip IV of France (also known as Philip the Fair) put the entire Christian order of the Templars on trial. The case began on Friday, October 13, 1307: tens of thousands of people died, and Jacques de Molay, commander of the order, cursed the entire Capetian branch. And the curse worked perfectly - some still blame it even for the Hundred Years War.
Mathematics
If these stories have not convinced you of the unlucky nature of the number 13, then let's return to more mundane mathematics. The 12 appears very often in our culture: 12 months of the year, 12 hours in a day, 12 signs of the Zodiac, 12 apostles of Jesus. We love 12 for a reason - it's a pseudo-ideal number because some of its divisors add up to a whole number.
It's your own fault
However, modern psychologists are confident that we ourselves have created this demon for ourselves. Stuart Weiss, a professor of psychology at Connecticut State College, recently published a seminal paper showing that it is only our own attitudes that fill the thirteenth with frightening events. If we could abstract ourselves from superstitions, Friday the thirteenth would be no different from an ordinary day.