Paraskevidekatriaphobia
Why do people think Friday the 13th is unlucky? In fact, why would any Friday be unlucky. It's practically a national holiday.
I guess the superstition started before people get Saturdays off.
posted by LAGuy @ 1:26 AM
4 Comments:
I heard once that Friday was considered unlucky by Christians because that was the day Christ was killed. Thirteen is unlucky because it was the number at table at the Last Supper. So I guess that makes Friday the Thirteenth doubly unlucky, (unless, of course, you want to bring about the Resurrection of the Messiah just three days later).
That explanation makes just as much sense as the rest of theology
I believe that the older susperstition about thirteen was that you shouldn't have thirteen at a table. My mom said that my grandmother would avoid having thirteen at a table at family gatherings. At some later point, this mutated into a general fear of 13's in all forms, including Friday the 13th.
Fear of thirteen at a table, fear of Friday, and fear of spilling salt are all clearly traceable to the Last Supper and passion of Jesus.
It's possible all these traditions can be traced back to feelings about the Last Supper, but I'd want to see scholarly evidence first. There are numerous folk beliefs about how Friday The 13th got started, and I don't know which, if any, are true.
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