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Friday the 13th is not really an unlucky day, any more so than Tuesday the 26th.

Any society tends to have its symbols of luck and misfortune, whether a four leaf clover, a rabbit's foot, a black cat, or a broken mirror. You may believe a rabbit's foot is a lucky charm, but you can be sure the rabbit doesn't think so.

Friday the 13th did not become an unlucky day until some time in the 1900's. In the 1800's, Friday was considered an unlucky day, and 13 was considered an unlucky number, but somehow the two were never combined into a day of bad luck until relatively recently.

Now that Friday the 13th has been raised in our consciousness, we can recite all manner of unlucky events occurring on that date in history. The most often referenced is Friday October 13, 1307 when the French king launched a massive raid against the Knights Templar resulting in thousands being chained and tortured.

However, with 700 years of history to review, we can be pretty sure an equal or greater calamity can be found occurring on a Tuesday the 26th.

The idea of Friday the 13th being unlucky is reinforced because we take note of and remember whatever unlucky event we ourselves may experience on such a date.

There are plenty of other days that bad things happen, but we don't keep a mental record of our unlucky Tuesdays. If Tuesday the 26th were the designated evil date, I'm sure we would all have tales of the misfortunes that befell us on that bad-luck Tuesday.

Further reinforcing our preconceived notions about the unlucky day, if anything good happens on Friday the 13th, only a few of us contrarians take note. My first lucky Friday the 13th happened in the 6th grade.

I had a geography test on the continents, and the teacher said he would write two continents on the blackboard and we had to write an essay about one. His idea was that we would have to study at least six of the continents to prepare for the test. My idea was that one of the continents HAD to be Africa. So I studied nothing else.

Friday the 13th came, and it was time for the test. On the blackboard he first wrote "Asia." I started sweating. Then he wrote "Africa." I aced the test. Friday the 13th has been lucky for me ever since.

Learn more about this author, Steve Holder.
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