Friday The 13th: 7 Facts About It

Many of us believe on the most popular superstition about Friday the 13th. People associate it with bad luck or a bad omen such that special precautions must be made especially on this date.

Here are some information about the superstition:

1. In the Philippines, people are advised by elders to be very careful such that all sorts of injuries resulting to bleeding must be avoided. Special precaution are even made when sunset, as they say ghosts and other extranatural creatures are roaming around areas, waiting to take lives of people. This makes people afraid when the 13th day of the month fall in a Friday.

2. The popular explanation why most believe that Friday the 13th is considered unlucky because of the tradition of celebrating Good Friday when Jesus Christ died on the cross after being betrayed by his 13th apostle, Judas. Although Judas really was not considered the 13th apostle such that there is ranking among Jesus Christ followers but people has accepted this information for many years. On the contrary, the death of Christ must not be associated with fear, instead a celebration of an unconditional act of love to save mankind from sins.

3. In psychiatry, the fear of 13th day of the year is known as paraskevidekatriaphobia. On the other hand, the fear of the number 13 is triskaidekaphobia. This fear emanates from the perception that the 13th day of the month falling on a Friday will cause bad luck or events, anticipated or not. Everyone must remember that fear is always related to perception. Should perception change, anxiety will also dramatically change.

4.  Within 400 years, there will be 688 times that Friday the 13th will be occurring. This is slightly higher than any other day. So whether people like it or not, no one can remove this occurence frok our calendars like how many building owners removed 13th floors in their properties.

5. Friday the 13th is also associated with arrest of the Knights of Templars, who were engaged in crusades in defense of the Catholic Church. They were thought to be friends of the Church, but on this day, they were arrested and tortured after accusations has been made against them on idolatry and homosexual practices upon admission ceremonies. These ceremonies were even publicized by the novel, Da Vinci Code; where these knights were thought to protect a highly regarded secret about Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene.

6. Due to fear of engaging business, travel and doing activities, studies have shown that millions of dollars are lost when this date falls. On the contrary, studies show that car accidents are less than any other day because people seems to be more cautious during this day. Interestingly, an airplane in Uruguay crashed on a Friday the 13th. This plane accident has been known not because of the unluckiness of Friday the 13th but the triumph of those, who survived inspite of the unbearable conditions they experienced.

7. Other countries have their own version of unlucky days. Spain has Tuesday the 13th following mythology of the Roman God of War, Mars. Greeks, on the other hand also has their unlucky Tuesday the 13th after Constantinople, city connecting present day Europe and Asia fell on the hands of the Muslim Ottoman Empire. This has forever changed the history of the city, which is still part of the Muslim-dominated Turkey. On the contrary, Italians consider the number 13 as a lucky number. Instead, some Italians think the number 17 as unlucky, being associated with death. Death has also been associated with 13 for those adherents of numerology since adding 1 and 3 results to 4, which is number associated with death.

Today, Friday the 13th is like any other day. There is a history of this day, just like any other day. The major difference is that people remember the bad history rather than the good ones. For sure, many people mark this day as their birthday, anniversary or any special day. What matters most is not what happened in the past on this day. Most important is how we spend this day to make us happy.

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