Friday the 13th (1 Viewer)

[Ryan Wright]

As we know, it's Friday the 13th again. What's the significance here? Does anyone know where this "bad luck day" legend started?

Am I the only one who reads absolutely nothing into it? For me, it's just another day.

 

[Chris Smith]

I remember one Friday the 13th, when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. All day long we would tease the girls that something was going to get them, blah blah. Towards the afternoon there was this HUGE thunderstorm which knocked the power out. We were all CONVINCED that it was due to it being Friday the 13th. Of course, we were like 7 or 8 at the time.

 

[ken thompson]

Historically Firdays in and of themselves were considered bad luck. Not sure where this came from though. The number thirteen is also an unlucky number for some reason, not sure why. But Friday the 13th is just considered doubly unlucky simply becuase its friday and the 13th.

 

[Jeff Hoak]

I've never understood the big deal about Friday the 13th. Heck my brother was born on Friday th 13th.

Wait a minute...

Ok I get it now...

 

[MarkHastings]

This web site always seems to be a good place to start:
http://howstuffworks.lycoszone.com/question614.htm

The superstition surrounding Friday the 13th is actually a combination of two separate fears -- the fear of the number 13, called triskaidekaphobia, and the fear of Fridays. The most familiar source of both these phobias is Christian theology. Thirteen is significant to Christians because it is the number of people who were present at the Last Supper (Jesus and his 12 apostles). Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th member of the party to arrive.

Christians have traditionally been wary of Fridays because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. In addition to that, some theologians hold that Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit on a Friday, and that the Great Flood began on a Friday. In the past, many Christians would never begin any new project or trip on a Friday, for fear that the endeavor would be doomed from the start.

 

[Keith Outhouse]

My brother was born on Fri 13th also. I and 1 other brother were born on a non fri 13th. The remaining 2 kids were born on the 10th and the 3rd (10+3=13). My brothers first son was born on the 13th. My son was born on the 12th but we induced labor, so I figure he should have been born on the 13th too!

So I guess 13 is actually a lucky number in my family.

 

[Matt Gordon]

Historically Firdays in and of themselves were considered bad luck.

Yeah, like back when I was single.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I was convinced it was a bad-luck day when United Artists opened their new Market Square theater in Sacramento on Friday, November 13, 1992. Me and some friends went to see Dracula which had just opened, and the film went out of frame THREE times- this was during the last show of the day too so anyone competent would have had the problem fixed by then. Ever since this theater has opened I've NEVER seen a perfect presentation there; I've complained to the company and gotten passes but to this day it continues to suck- I gave up going there but recently got a pass to a free screening and it was still mediocre. So don't open your theater on a Friday the 13th, at the very least you'll end up only getting incompetent idiots to work there.

 

[Craig Robertson]

a bad-luck day when United Artists opened their new Market Square theater in Sacramento on Friday, November 13, 1992

what, April 1st or October 31st weren't good enough?
i think the first day of marketing class they should tell you not to have a grand opening or product launch on a day with a historically negative connection.

 

[MarkHastings]

So don't open your theater on a Friday the 13th, at the very least you'll end up only getting incompetent idiots to work there.

So what's the excuse for all the other theaters that didn't open on a Fri. the 13th?

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Touche!

 

[James T]

I was also born Friday the 13th, but at 1:13. I really haven't had bad luck, but the stories my parents told me about what I did to them and my grandparents when I was young would make anyone go insane.

 

[Eric_L]

Wow, I thought everybody knew the history of Friday the 13th. I'm surprised nobody has posted it correctly yet.

On October 13, 1306, (a Friday) King Philip the Fair of France order the arrest of all Knights Templars most for heretical endeavors.

History is unclear if they were actually heretics or if the King had them framed because he was broke, jealous and feared they were becoming too politically powerful. (more likely)

Here is a link:

http://homepage.mac.com/casewright/2...apr132001.html

The last Grand Master of the Templars was a man named Jacques DeMolay. He was burned at the stake rather than renounce God and betray the names of any more Templars. Rumor has it that one of the Inquisitors who tried him was also a secret Templar (Whom Jacques was covering for, among many others). That Inquisitor faced the difficulty of having to execute his kings orders in spite of his own fears and loyalties. Talk about a rock and a hard place.

It is widely speculated that the surviving Templars went to Scotland and developed what eventually became todays Freemasons.

 

[Mark Shannon]

as soon as I read the first post, I was thinking in more of a Christian perspective, similar to MarkHastings, that Jesus was crucified on a Friday...

mods, sorry bout the religious comment

 

[MarkHastings]

Another significant part of the Friday-the-13th legend is a particularly bad Friday the 13th that occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France burned the revered Knights Templar at the stake, marking the occasion as a day of evil.

It seems like nobody can come up with the exact reason for Fri. the 13th, so I can't say that the Knight theory is the "correct one", it seems like it's a combination of a different events.

 

[MikeH1]

Friday October 13th 1989 I was in the only car accident I have had in my life. Since then I have always been leery of friday the 13ths.

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Ryan Wright wrote (post #1):

While I make no pretense to know the "origin" of bad-luck Friday the 13th off the top of my head, it is almost surely none of the explanations, religious or otherwise, that are generally given out in popular sources. That famous events may have happened on that day in history is hardly proof about the origin of the evil associations. It becomes a sort of post facto-justification of the superstition on the part of people struggling to come up with an explanation to associate it with a known bad event, a sort of individual "folk etymology".

And, like many of our customs celebrated in holidays (e.g., St. Valentine's Day, May Day, Hallowe'en (of course), or Christmas), its origin is almost surely pagan, and these dates have often been coöpted by the Church due to its failure to completely stamp out the associated pagan beliefs and usages. The original explanations of these customs, however, are generally successfully suppressed, so that modern folks end up in the endless speculations that we experience today.

 

[Todd Hochard]

Wow, I thought everybody knew the history of Friday the 13th. I'm surprised nobody has posted it correctly yet.

Yes, everyone is a genius on the Internet.:rolleyes