Did you know…?
The fear of Friday the 13th is called Friggatriskaidekaphobia.
The origins of Friday the 13th being unlucky are unclear. Some say that the superstition is linked to unlucky religious events: some argue that Adam and Eve bit the apple from the Tree of Knowledge on Friday the 13th; others say it is the day Jesus was crucified. A recently popularized theory (you can thank Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code for this one) links the superstition with the date of the arrest of the Knights Templar by King Phillip IV of France in 1307; they were charged with committing heresey and homosexual acts because they wouldn’t give the king (who was already heavily in debt to them) another loan. And Loki, the infamously evil god of Norse Mythology, is said to have crashed a party in Valhalla and killed Balder, the god of joy. There were 12 guests actually invited to the occasion—Loki’s presence made him the 13th.
No matter what the origins of the day, many people are still superstitious of Friday the 13th—some to the point of it becoming a phobia. Scientists have named the maladaptive fear of Friday the 13th Friggatriskaidekaphobia. The word stems from Frigga, the Norse goddess of love and marriage, who was worshipped of the sixth day of the week, and for whom Friday was named, and triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number thirteen.
Did you also know…?
- Potpourri
- Sweden once had two Leaps Days in one year.
- Doorways make you forget.
- In the wrong hands, one Christmas custom can bring a whole lot of bad luck.
- Because of a printer’s error, one edition of the Bible went from pious to downright wicked.
- Singing “Happy Birthday to You” in public can land you in jail.
- According to Italian space trackers, there are cosmonauts stranded in space.
- In Denmark, it is illegal to name your child Apple.
- A small strait off the coast of Wales is the scene of the strangest coincidence ever recorded.
- The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
- Nutmeg can kill you.
- A Frenchman once ate an entire airplane.
- Shakespeare wrote the first knock-knock joke.
- In fifteenth-century Britain, people were banned from wearing buttons.
- The fear of Friday the 13th is called Friggatriskaidekaphobia.
- The Mayflower set sail from Devonshire, England, on this day—in 1957.
- There is no need to be wary of Ides.
- The word “Abracadabra” was originally used to cure malaria.
- Post-it® notes were invented in church.