Did you see a black cat today? Walk underneath a ladder?
Ruh roh. You had better be careful for the rest of the day as today is Friday the 13th, especially if you suffer from araskavedekatriaphobia, which is also known as friggatriskaidekaphobia, which is fear of Friday the 13th.
The day is considered an unlucky one in Western Superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year. For example, 2024 had two Fridays the 13th, in September and in December. There will only be one Friday the 13th in 2025, that one in June, but there will be three in 2026, namely in February, March, and November. Notably, leap years that begin on Sunday, such as 2012 and 2040, also have three.
While there is more than scant evidence of both Friday and the number 13 being considered unlucky, there is no record of the two items occurring in conjunction with one another as a day and date as being especially unlucky before the 19th century.
The 1834 French play “Les Finesses des Gribouilles” includes a character stating: “I was born on a Friday, December 13th, 1813 from which come all of my misfortunes.” In England, an H.S. Edwards biography of Gioachino Rossini, who died on Friday the 13th of November, 1868, contains the sentence: “Rossini was surrounded to the last by admiring friends; and if it be true that, like so many Italians, he regarded Fridays as an unlucky day and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that on Friday 13th of November he passed away.”
During the Second World War, the king and queen of England were present in Buckingham Palace when it was bombed by German forces on Friday, September 13, 1940.
Although Tupac Shakur was shot on September 7, he died six days later on Friday the 13 in September 1996.
Though perhaps nothing more than massive, incredible coincidence, in 2010, a 13-year-old boy was struck by lightining in England – on Friday the 13th – at 13:13 (1:13 p.m.). It was not the worst of bad luck though, as he miraculously survived with only burns on his shoulder.
In January of 2012, the Costa Concordia sank on Friday the 13th, killing 32 people. The captain was subsequently sentenced to 16 (though not 13) years in prison for manslaughter.
More recently, the Covid-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency on Friday the 13th in March of 2020. What followed, the whole world can agree on, was quite bad luck.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
