Are you afraid of Friday the 13th? Of all the bizarre superstitions I’ve heard of, this one in particular is the one that confuses me the most.
Some brisk and unscientific scouring of the ‘net indicates that the fear of Friday the 13th is a combination of two separate phobias, the fear of the number 13 and the fear of Fridays. Both have their roots in christian mythology.
The simplest explanation for the fear of Friday is that christians believe that Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Adding a layer of richness and poetic justice, many theologians believe Adam and Eve were pitched headlong from the garden of earthly delights on a Friday. These same theologians believe that the Great Flood also began of a Friday. Pretty compelling stuff, if you’re a christian.
Non-christian historians often point out that the vilification of Fridays may have been done on purpose by the early Catholic Church’s policy of stamping out pagan religions. In the Roman calendar, Friday is linked to Venus (goddess of love), and in Norse mythology, the day is devoted to Freya, the Norse goddess of sex.
The fear of 13 could be much simpler. Judas was the 13th person to arrive at the last supper. In addition, the lunar calendar, often considered pagan by the Catholic Church (and thus worthy of being eradicated) was divided into 13 months.
Thats not all the background on the day, but it’s enough to cast some light on the christian phobia.
I’ve never had a bad Friday the 13th in my life. Lots of good things have happened to me. I won’t go into details, mostly because they’d violate my hosting terms.
But what about you? Do you have any Friday the 13th stories?