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Friday the 13th
A day of bad luck in much of the English-speaking world, from the old unluck of Friday and of the number thirteen, studied as a named fear.
About Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th is regarded as unlucky in Britain, North America and parts of northern Europe, where the dread of the number thirteen and of Friday join. The number is often linked to the Last Supper, at which thirteen sat, and Friday to the day of the Crucifixion, but the combination appears to be recent, with little record before the nineteenth century. Some buildings skip the thirteenth floor, and a minority of people avoid travel or major decisions. The fear has a clinical name, triskaidekaphobia for the number and paraskevidekatriaphobia for the day, and studies of accidents on such days give mixed results. In Italy the unlucky number is 17, and the day is Friday the 17th.
Entries tied to it
Also part of it, and being written: Triskaidekaphobia (Fear of the number thirteen.), Superstition (The wider field.).
Written by the EveryJaadu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Friday the 13th" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family, and are described as belief and practice. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Friday the 13th: Leonardo da Vinci, Public domain, source