Friday the 13th

This article is about the superstition. For other uses, see Friday the 13th (disambiguation).

Friday the 13th is a superstition about a day of bad luck. References to it have existed since the 1800s, and it is believed to be derived from a conflation of beliefs about an unlucky day, Friday, and an unlucky number, 13.

Phobia

The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia, a word derived from the concatenation of the Greek words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή) (meaning Friday), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς) (meaning thirteen), attached to phobía (φοβία) (meaning fear). The term is a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a simple phobia (fear) of the number thirteen, which was derived in 1911 and first appeared in a mainstream source in 1953.

History

According to experts, "determining the origins of superstitions is an inexact science, at best. In fact, it's mostly guesswork." Accordingly, no historical date has been verifiably identified as the origin of the superstition, though both the number thirteen and Friday to a lesser extent have been considered unlucky.

• In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, twelve gods of Olympus, etc. Whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness. There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper or a Norse myth, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.
• Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales, and many other professions regarded Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys or begin new projects. Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s.

Despite the reputation of the two separated elements, there is no evidence for a "Friday the 13th" superstition before the 19th century, and folklore historians state that Friday the 13th was a convergence of "Friday" and "13". The earliest known reference in English occurs in an 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini:

[Rossini] was surrounded to the last by admiring and affectionate friends; and if it be true that, like so many other Italians, he regarded Friday as an unlucky day, and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that on Friday, the 13th of November, he died.

Though it seems that the superstition developed relatively recently, much older origins are often claimed for it, most notably in the 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code, which declares that the superstition began with the arrest of the Knights Templar on Friday October 13, 1307. However, this is a modern-day invention. According to an article at urbanlegends.about.com:

No one has been able to document the existence of such beliefs prior to the 19th century. If people who lived before the late 1800s perceived Friday the 13th as a day of special misfortune, no evidence has been found to prove it. As a result, some scholars are now convinced the stigma is a thoroughly modern phenomenon exacerbated by 20th-century media hype. Going back a hundred years, Friday the 13th doesn't even merit a mention in E. Cobham Brewer's voluminous 1898 edition of the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, though one does find entries for "Friday, an Unlucky Day" and "Thirteen Unlucky." When the date of ill fate finally does make an appearance in later editions of the text, it is without extravagant claims as to the superstition's historicity or longevity.

Social impact

According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed. "It's been estimated that [US]$800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day". Despite this, representatives for both Delta and Continental Airlines say that their airlines don't suffer from any noticeable drop in travel on those Fridays.

Rate of accidents

There are conflicting studies about the risk of accidents on Friday the 13th. The Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) on June 12, 2008, stated that "fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays, because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home; but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th; in the last two years, Dutch insurers received reports of an average 7,800 traffic accidents each Friday; but the average figure when the 13th fell on a Friday was just 7,500. However, a 1993 study in the British Medical Journal that compared the ratio of traffic accidents between Friday the 6th and Friday the 13th, stated that there is a significant increase in traffic-related accidents on Fridays the 13th.

International references

References to Friday the 13th have been found in English-, French- and German-speaking countries, as well as in other countries around the world. Similar superstitions exist in some other traditions. In Greece, Romania and Spanish-speaking countries, for example, it is Tuesday the 13th that is considered unlucky. In Italy, it is Friday the 17th. Conversely, in Scandinavia, Friday the 13th was at one point considered the luckiest day of the year.

Occurrence

The following months have a Friday the 13th: Month Years Dominical Letter January 2006, 2012, 2017, 2023 A, AG February 2004, 2009, 2015, 2026 D, DC March 2009, 2015, 2020, 2026 D, ED April 2001, 2007, 2012, 2018 G, AG May 2005, 2011, 2016, 2022 B, CB June 2003, 2008, 2014, 2025 E, FE July 2001, 2007, 2012, 2018 G, AG August 2004, 2010, 2021, 2027 C, DC September 2002, 2013, 2019, 2024 F, GF October 2006, 2017, 2023, 2028 A, BA November 2009, 2015, 2020, 2026 D, ED December 2002, 2013, 2019, 2024 F, GF

The following years have Fridays the 13th in these months: Year Months Dominical Letter 2001 April, July G 2002 September, December F 2003 June E 2004 February, August DC 2005 May B 2006 January, October A 2007 April, July G 2008 June FE 2009 February, March, November D 2010 August C 2011 May B 2012 January, April, July AG 2013 September, December F 2014 June E 2015 February, March, November D 2016 May CB 2017 January, October A 2018 April, July G 2019 September, December F 2020 March, November ED 2021 August C 2022 May B 2023 January, October A 2024 September, December GF 2025 June E 2026 February, March, November D 2027 August C 2028 October BA

This sequence, here given for 2001–2028, repeats every 28 years from 1901 to 2099. The months with a Friday the 13th are determined by the Dominical letter (G, F, GF, etc.) of the year. Any month that begins on a Sunday will contain a Friday the 13th.

The longest period that can occur without a Friday the 13th is fourteen months, either from July to September the following year (e.g. in 2001/2002 and 2012/13), or from August to October in a leap year (e.g. in 2027/28).

Patterns for non leap-years: First month occurring Second month Third month January October February March November April July May June August September December

Patterns for leap years: First month occurring Second month Third month January April July February August March November May June September December October

Each Gregorian 400-year cycle contains 146,097 days (365 * 400 = 146,000 normal days plus 97 leap days), 146,097 / 7 = 20,871 weeks, and 400 * 12 = 4,800 months. Thus, each cycle contains the same pattern of days of the week (and thus the same pattern of Fridays the 13th), but no day of the month up to the 28th can occur the same number of times on each day of the week (because 4,800 is not divisible by 7). The 13th day of the month is slightly more likely to be a Friday than any other day of the week. On average, there is a Friday the 13th once every 212.35 (212 and 241/688) days.

The distribution of the 13th day over the 4,800 months is as follows:

Day of the week	Number of occurrences
Sunday	687
Monday	685
Tuesday	685
Wednesday	687
Thursday	684
Friday	688
Saturday	684

Planned events on Fridays the 13th

Some events are intentionally scheduled for Friday the 13th for dramatic effect. They include:

• Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album was released in the UK on Friday, February 13, 1970.
• The 13th book in A Series of Unfortunate Events was released on Friday, October 13, 2006 by Lemony Snicket, also known as novelist Daniel Handler.
• The remake of the original Friday the 13th is planned to release on Friday, February 13, 2009.

Natural events on Fridays the 13th

Due to the large number of events that happen in the world, a similar list could be compiled for any combination of day of the month and day of the week.

• The Black Friday bushfires in Victoria, Australia occurred on Friday, January 13, 1939.
• The Uruguayan Rugby team infamously crashed in the Andes mountain range on Friday, 13 October 1972
• Hurricane Charley made landfall near Port Charlotte, Florida on Friday, August 13, 2004.
• The "Friday the 13th Storm" struck Buffalo, New York on October 13, 2006.
• UNIX time will reach 1,234,567,890 decimal seconds on February 13, 2009 at 23:31:30 GMT.
• The asteroid 2004 MN4 will make its close encounter on Friday, April 13, 2029.
• Admiral Lord Nelson left home for the last time to go to the Battle of Trafalgar on Friday, Sept 13, 1805.

Notable births and deaths

Born on Friday the 13th Date of Birth Oliviero de Fabritiis 13 June, 1902 Georges Simenon 13 February, 1903 Samuel Beckett 13 April, 1906 Bob the stupid 13 December, 9999BC Bud Freeman 13 April, 1906 Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen 13 January, 1911 Fred Daly 13 June, 1913 Eileen Farrell 13 February, 1920 Stuart Wagstaff 13 February, 1925 Jennifer Vyvyan 13 March, 1925 Margaret Thatcher 13 October, 1925 Fidel Castro 13 August, 1926 Herbert Ross 13 May, 1927 Rosalind Elias 13 March, 1931 T. J. Cloutier 13 October, 1939 Carol Lynley 13 February, 1942 Zoë Wanamaker 13 May, 1949 Yuri Ahronovich 13 May, 1949 Peter Davison 13 April, 1951 Max Weinberg 13 April, 1951 Deborah Raffin 13 March, 1953 Steve Buscemi 13 December, 1957 Julia Louis-Dreyfus 13 January, 1961 Will Clark 13 March, 1964 Kate Walsh 13 October, 1967 Tim Story 13 March, 1970 Sara Cox 13 December, 1974 Sarah Connor 13 June, 1980 Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen 13 June, 1986 Marco Andretti 13 March, 1987

Died on Friday the 13th Date of Death Sam Patch 13 November, 1829 Gioachino Rossini 13 November, 1868 Diamond Jim Brady 13 April, 1917 Sir Henry Segrave 13 June, 1930 Arnold Schoenberg 13 July, 1951 Martita Hunt 13 June, 1969 Hubert Humphrey 13 January, 1978 Ralph Kirkpatrick 13 April, 1984 Benny Goodman 13 June, 1986 Gerald Moore 13 March, 1987 Stuart Challender 13 December, 1991 Tupac Shakur 13 September, 1996 Tony Roper 13 October, 2000 Tim Russert 13 June, 2008

External links

• How Friday the 13th works (HowStuffWorks.com)
• Your Unlucky Day: The religious roots of triskaidekaphobia.
• Some don't count on Lucky 13 - Via Magazine.
• Paraskevidekatriaphobia - skepdic.com article on Friday the 13th