THE OBLIGATORY SUPERSTITION POST - JUST ANOTHER DAY

Today is Friday the 13^th.

Yeah, big whoop-dee-doo. It’s just another day. Sadly, far too many people invest a great deal of ‘belief’ in this superstition.

Here’s the answers.com entry:

“A Friday occurring on the 13th day of any month is considered to be a day of bad luck in English-speaking cultures around the globe. Similar superstitions exist in some other traditions. In Greece and Spain, for example, Tuesday the 13th takes the same role. The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia, paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia, a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a phobia (fear) of the number thirteen.

Origins

The origin of the Friday the 13th superstition has been linked to the belief that there were 13 people at The Last Supper of Jesus, who was crucified on Good Friday, but no evidence has been found that Friday 13th was considered especially unlucky until the 19th century. The number 13, however, has a long history of association with ill-luck. It has been linked to the fact that a lunisolar calendar must have 13 months in some years, while the solar Gregorian calendar and lunar Islamic calendar always have 12 months in a year.

Another suggestion is that the belief originated in a Norse myth about twelve gods having a feast in the hall of the sea-god Aegir. The mischievous Loki gate-crashed the party as an uninvited 13th guest and arranged for Hod, the blind god of darkness, to throw a branch of mistletoe at Balder, the god of joy and gladness. Balder was killed instantly and the Earth was plunged into darkness and mourning as a result. This, however, is untenable. The original Old Norse text, the poem Lokasenna in the Edda, mentions 17 gods by name at the feast. Loki is indeed a gatecrasher, but he is not the thirteenth person present. Nor is there any link between this episode and the killing of Balder.

The first explanation, however, seems more relevant to the superstition linked to having 13 people at the same table during a meal. This, recorded at the end of the eighteenth century, is the earliest known instance of the ill-luck of 13 in Britain. The belief was that the first person to rise from the table would be the first to die.

There is also another theory that Friday the 13th of October 1307 was the day that Philip IV of France arrested and subsequenty tortured and killed hundreds of the French Knights Templar to get their money for the French treasury. This theory is used in the factcomic Uncle Scrooge and The Crown Of The Crusader Kings[1] by Don Rosa. Mr. Rosa does here even proof that it wasn't friday the 13th they were arrested. One other note which predates all of the aforementioned is that the first Passover seems to have occurred on Friday the 13th. The death of the firstborns of Egypt occurred on a Shabbat on the 14th of Nisan in the evening. But the Jewish calendar counts days from sunset to sunset so this would have been Friday the 13th in terms of the gentile reckoning of the days. (Exodus 12:6) Feminists have argued that because of the lunar year and Friday being named after a goddess in most European pagan calendars, the fear of Friday the 13th is a patriarchal invention, associating femininity with bad luck.”

Back when I studied Witchcraft, the explanation was that there were usually thirteen people in a coven, with one portraying Cernunnos, who would dance at the back (or front) of the ‘Conga’ line. (‘Devil take the hindmost’, I believe the term was, or was that the kissing of the ‘infernal’ ass? I forget; as I never participated in any such thing, thank Ramen). This info was extracted via torture (the Inquisition), and thus is somewhat suspect.

So, anybody got any Friday the 13^th stories? ‘Cause I’ve got diddly. Nothing’s ever gone awry on this ‘momentous’ date anytime in my life.

Got anecdote? C’mon, share. I’m fairly sure no one I know has one, but I’ve been wrong before (not very often, hehehehe). Kinda doubt I am on this one either. Did anyone take precautions? Twig on a black cat crossing their paths?

Till the next post, then.

ADDENDUM: The answers.com entry has been amended to exclude the following sentence: "Mr. Rosa does here even proof that it wasn't friday the 13th they were arrested."
I also note that not only does the entry's author's grammar is fairly poor, the author also misspelled 'Baldur'.