Unlucky for Some
By tony leather, 9th Apr 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutNewsOff Beat
Any Friday the 13th is considered bad luck in English and Portuguese-speaking cultures around the world, the fear of it known as paraskavedekatriaphobia.
Unlucky for Some
To many people, just the mention of Friday the 13th sounds unlucky, but is this just traditional superstition, people disliking the day and date because they believe it to be one of misfortune and ill-luck? Any Friday the 13th is considered bad luck in English and Portuguese-speaking cultures around the world, the fear of it known as paraskavedekatriaphobia.
There are said to be many origins for the attached superstitions, including Eve tempting Adam on a Friday with the apple. 13 people supposedly attended the last supper, Jesus allegedly crucified on Good Friday, and it was on Friday October the 13th, 1307 that the Pope and the King of France issued the order that Templars were to be terminated as heretics, Grand Master, Jacques DeMolay arrested, tortured and crucified before he was killed.
Friday being either a lucky or unlucky day has been a belief since ancient times. Romans dedicated what they saw as the sixth day of the week to the goddess Venus, naming the day dies Veneris, vendredi being Friday in modern French still.
When Vikings adopted Roman day-naming methods they chose Venus as their name for Friday, which is actually a bastardization of the closest Viking translation - Frigg, or Freya, which they saw as a day the luckiest day of the week. In Goddess and pagan lore, 19 is the sacred number of the Goddess.
Since Friday the 13th combines sacred goddess numbers 6 and 13, which added together give 19, this day was said to be especially unlucky. Hindus and Scottish people thought Friday the favoured day for a marriage because it highlighted fertility. Fish were eaten as fertility tokens.
This was done in honour of Venus - Freya to Scandanavians - whose tokens they were, still considered to be an aphrodisiac food due to their being sacred to the goddess Aphrodite. This means that the supposedly Catholic eating of fish on Fridays was in truth a pagan tradition, though never acknowledged as such.
Middle Ages churchmen, aware that pagan Freya rites on Fridays were still practiced by many, designated the day as that of devil worship, though this was soon forgotten. Muslims believe that Allah created Adam on a Friday, while Scandinavians believe 13 to signify bad luck - due to the legend of the feast ( very much like the Last Supper) when 12 mythological demigods were joined by, Loki, an evil cruel one, who brought great misfortune upon humans.
Friday the 13th can be seen as unlucky or otherwise, dependent on the person involved, but this superstition stems from old beliefs and practices used by people to explain, and protect themselves, from events beyond their control. I was actually born on the 13th - a Tuesday - so have never seen the number as unlucky, but then I am a genuine cynic.
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