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Is Friday 13th really a day of bad luck?

Friday the 13th actually occurs no more then three time every year, and happens when the thirteenth day of the month sets itself down on a Friday. This is a mark of very bad luck, and it is often feared by modern peoples.

There is no set history of Friday the 13th. There are just a jumble of facts which state the bad luck which has fallen on the Friday 13 in the before time. For instance in 1869 an English man named Gioachina Rossini feared Friday 13 (like so many other Italians). In a freak instance he actually died on Friday 13.

However it needs a little more creativity in order to pass Friday 13 as a mark of being a day to much fear. There are many folk lore's which try to portray the evilness of the day.

There is a theory that traces back to the Battle of Hastings, which is when Christianity overthrew Paganism. At this time the number 13 was considered lucky, since there are thirteen lunar cycles in a full year. However the evil Christians went against the Pagan beliefs and merged to declare that the number was unlucky, alongside the day of Friday. On Friday 13 October 1066, King Harold II decided to do battle. The English lost, and Harold was killed - thus making Friday 13 bad luck and a day of doom.

In numerology the number twelve is an even number, making it a number which resembled completeness. There are also twelve months in a year, twelve signs of zodiac, twelve hours on a clock, which makes it a number which resembles life. The number thirteen on the other hand is irregular. In the last supper there were thirteen people seated at the table, thus making it a death sign since one of the eaters are doomed to die.

In Norse mythology the Friday is actually named after a Pagan goddess whose name was Frigga. She resembles love and fertility and was once worshipped daily. However when the Norse tribes decided to convert into Christianity the goddess was banished to a mountaintop and labelled as a witch. It was believed that the spiteful goddess met with eleven other witches and a raging devil, and plotted ill fate for the Norse Christians.

The fear of Friday the 13 is called paraskavedekatriaphobia. The word derives from the Greek word Paraskevi which means Friday, and Dekatreis which means thirteen, and Phobia which means fear. Some go through the day feeling as though someone is walking on their gravestone, causing the skin to tremble, and the body to feel weak. Some people fear the day so much that they cannot leave the house on this day. So it does hold some sort of psychological doomsday mark, due to hype or just plain belief. Either way it is a day to be feared, even in the modern world. Everyone has to check their steps, to ensure they do not break their shoe on a step which covers the crack - that is bad luck, and so is the day Friday the 13th.

Learn more about this author, M Pereira.
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