It's October 13, and it's a Friday

Don’t travel, don’t start a business, don’t make big decisions. These are only some of the things you’re not supposed to do on Friday, the 13th. It’s unlucky, we’ve heard it said. Travel can result in serious accident or even death. Any decision involving money can lead to serious financial loss.

There is no logic to it. That’s why the fear over Friday, the 13th is called a superstition. But the belief is pervasive. Some buildings don’t have a 13th floor, for example (technically, there is always a 13th floor in a building with at least 14 floors, but the 13th floor is assigned the number 14 and the 14th becomes the 15th), some hotels don’t have a Room 13 and some airline passengers will pay extra to avoid being seated on the 13th row of the plane.

Many people I know say that while they don’t really believe in all that crap, it won’t hurt to avoid certain activities on this day. You know, just in case, better steer off all the taboos. Well, that doesn’t sound like not believing in the superstition at all.

What’s with Friday, the 13th anyway? From what I’ve read, the paranoia over the number 13 predates the myth that Friday is an unlucky day. And the horror movie franchise has nothing to do with either.

According to Donald Dossey, a folklore historian, the fear of the number 13 goes back to a night when twelve Norse gods were having dinner in Valhalla.

In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous god Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow.

“Balder died, and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day,” Dossey said.

Source: National Geographic

Why Friday is considered unlucky is thought to be related to the day that Jesus was crucified.

How the fear of the number 13 became intertwined with unlucky day Friday may have begun with The Last Supper. Thirteen people sat down for the meal on a Thursday, the thirteenth was Jesus and, the next day, Friday, he was crucified.

Then, there is the second theory. Some say that the association of 13 with Friday began on October 13, 1307, a Friday, when King Philip IV of France arrested, and eventually executed, hundreds of Knights Templar, a military order of the Catholic church. The Knights Templar amassed untold wealth during the two centuries of the existence of the order — wealth so vast that it spawned legends that were, in turn, enriched and garnished in fiction. National Treasure, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Da Vinci Code are just among them.