Are you concerned with the rules for Friday the 13th? Do you have a fear of Friday the 13th? If you have a fear of this date you have friggatriskaidekaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia. Who knew? I wanted to know how all of this started, this concern of Friday the 13th so I went to the source, I went to History.com
On Friday, October 13, 1307, officers of King Philip IV of France arrested hundreds of the Knights Templar, a powerful religious and military order formed in the 12th century for the defense of the Holy Land.
Imprisoned on charges of various illegal behaviors (but really because the king wanted access to their financial resources), many Templars were later executed. Some cite the link with the Templars as the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition, but like many legends, the truth remains murky.
In more recent times, a number of traumatic events have occurred on Friday the 13th, including the German bombing of Buckingham Palace (September 1940); the murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens, New York (March 1964); a cyclone that killed more than 300,000 people in Bangladesh (November 1970); the disappearance of a Chilean Air Force plane in the Andes (October 1972); the death of rapper Tupac Shakur (September 1996) and the crash of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the coast of Italy, which killed 30 people (January 2012). *All of this information was found on History.com
I don’t know the rules of Friday the 13th because I don’t really believe in it so again, I had to do a search and here is what I found.
1. A single magpie is “one for sorrow”. Do you have magpies in your area? Do you know what one is? It is a specific type of crow. So watch out, that bad boy is probably going to dirty right on your car or your shirt. Now that would be bad luck.
2. Don’t open umbrellas indoors, at least if you don’t want to upset the sun gods. My Grandmother used to follow this rule. I don’t really think she was concerned about upsetting the Sun Gods. I think she wanted us to put the stupid
3. Don’t walk under a ladder. A leaning ladder supposedly represents the trinity – walk right through it, and you’re in league with the devil. O.k. this one is just common sense.
4. Stay away from this number in parts of China. Four sounds like “death” in Cantonese and in Hong Kong. Some high-rise buildings don’t have fourth, 14th or 40th floors. A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia to find if “psychological stress engendered by fear of the number four” led to more cardiac deaths among Hong Kong Chinese people on the 4th, 14th of 24th of the month, however, found no correlation. With the
5. The evil eye: strolling through a Turkish market, you’ll see vivid blue evil-eye pendants to ward off the bad luck. I worked with a lady that wore a beautiful Blue Eyed Pendant all of the time. I still gave her the stink eye which has got to be close to the evil eye. So although her necklace was beautiful, it must have been broke.
6. Don’t wear opal, at least if you fear it is contaminated with evil. This superstition came about in the 19th century: Sir Walter Scott’s character Lady Hermione in Anne of Geierstein turns to ashes after holy water is sprinkled on her opal-bedazzled hair. Interesting because I do know if you are not careful with your opal
7. It is seven years’ bad luck if you break a mirror. The Romans are said to have believed that life renews itself every seven years, so breaking a mirror disrupted that link to your inner self. Yes, we get new skin every seven years that is how the dermis cycles but breaking a mirror? Naw I have broken mirrors and my luck isn’t any worse than anyone else. I think…
8. Flight 666 to HEL. A Finnair flight from Copenhagen to Helsinki, which flies on Fridays – including those with a 13 next to them. Last Friday the 13th, the flight was full. I don’t know what to even say about this one. It seems really weird to want to take Flight 666 on Friday the 13th so good luck to you for tempting fate.
9. This number sounds like “suffering” (kyū) in Japan and is considered unlucky. Certain planes on All Nippon Airways omit row nine (and four, and 13).
10. Don’t spill salt. A famous depiction is Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, where Judas’s spilling of it is associated with treachery and lies. I’ll never forget as a kid when my brother and his friend found out that if you spilled the salt you were to throw it over your left shoulder to ward off the bad luck. Those two got to goofing around and had salt all over Mom’s kitchen. Maybe it just brings bad luck to goofball preteen boys.
11. Walk away from that black cat. It’s evil. Cats were believed to be the familiars of witches in the middle ages. I walk away from ALL cats, so maybe I can agree with this one. LOL
12. The number 13 has its own named phobia: friggatriskaidekaphobia.
As you can see, I really don’t have much fear of this date or the things you are not supposed to do. I would probably walk under a ladder or bust a mirror just to freak someone out…but please keep that black cat (or a cat of any color) to yourself please. One last tidbit in case you go out tonight. Alfred Hitchcock, perhaps fittingly, was born on Friday 13 August 1899. Maybe you can win a drink or something with that bit of trivia.
Have a great weekend…if you make it through Friday the 13th!