Friday the thirteenth is considered the unluckiest of days in many superstitions, unless you were born on Friday the thirteenth in which case it is your lucky day.

The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia, a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a phobia (fear) of the number thirteen.

FRIDAY THE 13TH - how is fear of the number thirteen demonstrated?

In Two Thousand Four, Friday The Thirteenth, Blood On The Turntables Part 7 had to be cancelled due to the eminent danger of a hurricane.

More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor.

Many airports skip the 13th gate.

Airplanes have no 13th aisle.

Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.

Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.

On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.

Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue

In France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.

Many triskaidekaphobes, as those who fear the unlucky integer are known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.

If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck . Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their name

Let's look at this objectively for a second:
In order to organize time, human beings created calendars. As part of today's dominant calendar system, every year is divided into 12 periods called months, consisting of roughly 30 days each.
All days are also grouped into sets of seven, called weeks. In the Western world, a significant chunk of the population suspects bad things will happen whenever the 13th day of a month occurs on the day of the week called Friday.

Like many human beliefs, the fear of Friday the 13th isn't exactly grounded in scientific logic. But the really strange thing is that most of the people who believe the day is unlucky offer no explanation at all, logical or illogical. As with most superstitions, people fear Friday the 13th for its own sake, without any need for background information.

The superstition does have deep, compelling roots, however, and the origins help explain why the belief is so widespread today. In this article, we'll look at some of the interesting stories behind this unluckiest of days.

Fear Free?
You may not take drastic safety precautions every Friday the 13th, but are you totally immune to the superstition? Given the choice, would you get married, start a new job or close on a house on Friday the 13th? Most Americans wouldn't, even though they don't put much stock in the idea. Superstition has a way of creeping up on people when they're in a particularly vulnerable state.

Origins / Introduction
The origins of Friday superstitions are many. One of the best known is that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel.

The origins of the Friday the 13th superstition have also been linked to the fact there were 13 people at the last supper of Jesus, who was traditionally crucified on Good Friday, but it probably originated only in medieval times.

It has also been linked to the fact that a lunisolar calendar must have 13 months in some years, while the solar Gregorian calendar and lunar Islamic calendar always have 12 months in a year.

The Christian Tradition
The fear of Friday the 13th stems from two separate fears -- the fear of the number 13 and the fear of Fridays. Both fears have deep roots in Western culture, most notably in Christian theology.

Thirteen is significant to Christians because it is the number of people who were present at the Last Supper (Jesus and his 12 apostles). Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th member of the party. Christians have traditionally been wary of Fridays because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Additionally, some theologians hold that Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit on a Friday, and that the Great Flood began on a Friday. In the past, many Christians would never begin any new project or trip on a Friday, fearing they would be doomed from the start.

Sailors were particularly superstitious in this regard, often refusing to ship out on a Friday. According to unverified legend (very likely untrue), the British Navy commissioned a ship in the 1800s called H.M.S. Friday, in order to quell the superstition. The navy selected the crew on a Friday, launched the ship on a Friday and even selected a man named James Friday as the ship's captain. Then, one Friday morning, the ship set off on its maiden voyage... and disappeared forever. A similar, entirely factual story is the harrowing flight of Apollo 13.

Other Traditions
The Christian perspective on Friday and 13 is the most relevant today, but it's only one part of the Friday the 13th tradition.

Some trace the infamy of the number 13 back to ancient Norse culture. In Norse mythology, the beloved hero Balder was killed at a banquet by the mischievous god Loki, who crashed the party of twelve, bringing the group to 13. This story, as well as the story of the Last Supper, led to one of the most entrenched 13-related beliefs: You should never sit down to a meal in a group of 13.

Another significant piece of the legend is a particularly bad Friday the 13th that occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil. Check out this site to learn more.

Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.

Ultimately, the complex folklore of Friday the 13th doesn't have much to do with people's fears today. The fear has much more to do with personal experience. People learn at a young age that Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky, for whatever reason, and then they look for evidence that the legend is true. The evidence isn't hard to come by, of course. If you get in a car wreck on one Friday the 13th, lose your wallet, or even spill your coffee, that day will probably stay with you. But if you think about it, bad things, big and small, happen all the time. If you're looking for bad luck on Friday the 13th, you'll probably find it.

Some historians suggest the Christian distrust of Fridays is actually linked to the early Catholic Church's overall suppression of pagan religions and women. In the Roman calendar, Friday was devoted to Venus, the goddess of love. When Norsemen adapted the calendar, they named the day after Frigg, or Freya, Norse goddesses connected to love and sex. Both of these strong female figures once posed a threat to male-dominated Christianity, the theory goes, so the Christian church vilified the day named after them.

This characterization may also have played a part in the fear of the number 13. It was said that Frigg would often join a coven of witches, normally a group of 12, bringing the total to 13. This idea may have originated with the Christian Church itself; it's impossible to verify the exact origins of most folklore. A similar Christian legend holds that 13 is unholy because it signifies the gathering of 12 witches and the devil.

The number 13 could also have been considered pagan because there are 13 months in the pagan lunar calendar. The lunar calendar also corresponds to the human menstrual cycle, connecting the number to femininity.

A series of horror movies were created to highlight the fear of this sacred day. The main character wore a very recognized Jason Voorhees Hockey Mask as he brutally murdered the unlucky in each film.

A bed changed on Friday will bring bad dreams.

Any ship that sails on Friday will have bad luck.

You should never start a trip on Friday or you will meet misfortune.

Never start to make a garment on Friday unless you can finish it the same day.

Lucky Thirteen?
Modern thinkers may not believe as much in such things. And how these fears began is unclear. Yet popular culture still considers Friday the thirteenth an unlucky day.

Here are just a few recent newspaper stories that we found with Google, the Internet search engine: In Massachusetts, the North Adams Transcript announced a talk to be given Friday night. It said the speaker will discuss "the power of superstition and its roots in nature." That is, if anyone feels safe enough to leave home. Sorry, a little joke; the story did not say that.

But in New York state, the Independent in the Hamptons did say this about military base closings by the Defense Department:

"Perhaps Friday the thirteenth will be lucky for the Air National Guard One Hundred Sixth Rescue Wing. That’s the day officials expect to learn if the base located at Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach will remain open."

In Texas, the Daily News in Galveston County wrote about a sports event to raise money for medical research. The story said: "This Friday the thirteenth promises to bring nothing but good luck to those participating in the first Serving to Ace Leukemia Tennis Tournament."

Our last example involves a graduation ceremony at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. A report in the News and Record told about three Bosnian Muslim immigrants graduating together. Sanela Kalender, her husband Almir and his brother Armin had fled the Bosnian war in the nineteen nineties. They settled in North Carolina in two thousand.

In the words of the story: "The commencement ceremony falls on what's supposed to be one of the unluckiest days of the year, but which has turned out to be the luckiest for the Kalenders. They arrived in America on a Friday the thirteenth. They will graduate on a Friday the thirteenth."

“Whatever one believes, IS. If you're scared of this day, it's most likely nothing will go right and you'll say, yep it's Friday the 13th, what do you expect? I'm not superstitious. I walk under ladders, meow when a black cat crosses my path and I don't knock on wood. I celebrate Friday the 13th, as should everyone. It's just another day. Now to go set the table for 13, knit a sweater, cut my nails, get off my sickbed, flip my mattress, write 13 emails and then take a cruise. I've already given birth.” - Brenda Stardom (Portugal)

GOOD FRIDAY
(The Friday before Easter)
A child born on Good Friday and baptized on Easter Sunday has a gift of healing. If a boy, he should go into the ministry.

Cut your hair on Good Friday to prevent headaches in the year to come

A person who dies on Good Friday will go right to heaven.

Shed no blood on Good Friday, work no wood, hammer no nail.