Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th joins two older fears, of Fridays and of the number 13, into one date that turns up whenever a month begins on a Sunday. No calendar year passes without one.
What it may mean
Friday the 13th is a meeting of two separate fears. Friday had a long record as an ill-starred day for starting things, and thirteen carried its own dread, often traced to a table with one guest too many. Put together, they make a date that arrives on schedule: any month that starts on a Sunday has one, so every year has at least one and never more than three. Plenty of people say they do not believe in it and still notice when it comes. That is the interesting part. A date has only the power a crowd gives it, and on this one you can watch the crowd at work, in jokes, headlines and rebooked flights. The day can sort the fears you hold on your own from the ones you borrow from the crowd. Customs differ: in Spanish-speaking countries the ill-starred day is Tuesday the 13th.
Depending on how you saw it
A big plan that falls on the date
A move, a wedding or a launch scheduled on Friday the 13th makes some people uneasy and others proud. Venues are sometimes cheaper that day. Which of your choices would change if you ignored the opinions of people who will not be there?
A birthday on Friday the 13th
A birthday lands on the date every few years, and the jokes arrive with the cake. Some people play along, with black balloons and a cat-shaped card. Which teasing label have you taken on and made yours?
Thirteen people at the table
Some hosts still add a fourteenth guest or set an extra place to avoid thirteen at dinner. It is a small fuss that often leads to a nicer night. Who could you add to your table, for any reason at all?
Feeling uneasy all day without a reason
On the date, a dropped glass or a missed bus suddenly feels like proof. The mind remembers the misses that fit the story and forgets the ordinary days that do not. What would your record of mishaps look like if you counted every day the same way?
Why it happens in nature
A month has a Friday the 13th exactly when it begins on a Sunday. Because of how the months line up, every calendar year contains at least one such Friday and at most three. The fear of the date is sometimes called paraskevidekatriaphobia, a word built from Greek for Friday and thirteen.
What folk beliefs say
Norse mythology
One origin offered for the fear of thirteen at table is a Norse myth: the gods sat down to a feast in Valhalla, Loki intruded as the thirteenth guest, and at that feast he caused the death of Baldur the Beautiful.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 3 (1903), vol. 3, p. 1645. View the page
Italy (Florence)
In many streets and squares of Florence there was no house number 13; a number twelve and a half was used instead, and houses with the dreaded number rarely found an Italian tenant.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 3 (1903), vol. 3, p. 1639. View the page
Italy (Rome)
In Rome, plenty of people would sign no contract on a Friday.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 3 (1903), vol. 3, p. 1587. View the page
Britain
Brand noted that in Britain thirteen was held extremely ominous, since it was believed that when thirteen people met in a room, one of them would die within a year.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 264. View the page
To reflect on
Which of your fears would you still keep if nobody around you shared it?