Friday the 13th Strikes Again!
A day steeped in all sorts of superstitious folklore
If you’re a superstitious type of person, then Friday the 13th is traditionally ground zero for sending bad luck and misfortune out into the world. Why is this one specific day singled out as the mother of all bad days?
Turns out that our cultural fears of this specific date on our calendar are rooted in ancient mythology and religious folklore. Long before it became synonymous with an undead murderer in a hockey mask, Friday the 13th earned a reputation as an omen foretelling death and chaos.
Friday the 13th origins
Biblical legends helped shaped our negative perception of Friday the 13th with their negative view of both Friday and the number 13.
Western culture and middle eastern culture have long viewed 12 to be a sacred number. 12 signifies completeness or wholeness. That’s why you have 12 Olympian gods in ancient Greece, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 months in a year, and so forth. 13 is considered an imperfect number in this context and seen as a harbinger of doom.
Christian tradition holds that 13 guests attended the Last Supper — Jesus and his twelve apostles. Judas Iscariot was the 13th guest to arrive according to tradition and he later betrayed Jesus, leading to his eventual crucifixion on Friday of that week. This event helped shaped Friday as a day filled with bad luck. Earlier biblical legends specify that Adam and Eve consumed the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden on a Friday, Cain killed his brother Abel on a Friday, and the Temple of Solomon fell to Babylonian invaders on a Friday.
A mediaeval historical event contributed to fostering the fear of Friday the 13th. Officers of Phillip IV, King of France, arrested hundreds among the ranks of the Knights Templar on October 13, 1307 — a Friday. The religious order formed in the 12th century to defend Jerusalem during the crusades. The Knights Templar had acquired considerable power and wealth by the 14th century and Phillip IV wanted to curb their influence. He had many of the imprisoned Templars executed for various trumped up crimes and confiscated their treasure, cementing the perception of Friday the 13th as a cursed day down through subsequent centuries.
Even now in the digital age, you have many people who avoid doing certain activities like traveling, starting a job, buying a house, or getting married on Friday the 13th for fear of inviting bad luck. An estimated 60 million people worldwide actually suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia — a fear of Friday the 13th.
13 is the loneliest number
Friday the 13th superstitions are an outgrowth of early propaganda against Pagan traditions in areas where Nordic and Germanic tribes converted to the Christian faith. Christians sought to decrease Pagan influence by coloring their beliefs and festivals in an unholy and ominous light.
Before Christianity took root in ancient Scandinavian and Germanic lands, pagan traditions encapsulated a much different view of both Friday and the number 13. Pagans associated Friday with the divine feminine. Our word Friday has roots in Frigga, the name of the Norse sky goddess associated with love, marriage, and motherhood. Frigga protected homes and families, bestowed fertility, and maintained social order. Marrying on a Friday, in Norse culture, invited good fortune to bless the holy union. 13 represented the number of yearly lunar cycles and was also connected to fertility — both powerful feminine symbols.
Christian leaders sought to discourage traditions celebrating these beliefs to stamp out competition from paganism. Thus they branded worshippers of Frigga and other goddesses associated with love, fertility, and magic as witches who indulged in unholy practices. The sky goddesses themselves were also branded as witches and unholy beings connected to Satan. Soon, Fridays and the number 13 became popularly associated with bad luck rather than good fortune.
The persistence of Friday the 13th superstitions in modern times attests to the success of this middle ages propaganda.
I have a Friday the 13th surprise for readers of Strange New Worlds!
Hiding From Shadows can be purchased from major booksellers worldwide starting today. You may recall I first released this ghost story as a four-part serialized tale to readers of this newsletter back in October, 2021. Now I’ve brought this short haunting tale together in a single volume.
The eBook edition of Hiding From Shadows is available at all major booksellers and a paperback edition is also available through Amazon. I plan to create an audiobook edition in the near future. I’ll keep you all posted when it becomes available.
Hiding From Shadows will also remain here on Strange New Worlds in serialized form. You can read part one for free. The rest of the story — part two, part three, and part four — remains exclusive to paid subscribers.
I will bet on the divine feminine and 13 all day long! Congrats on the book!
Congrats on the book!
I enjoyed dive into Friday the 13th's past.