Are You Scared of Friday the 13th?
TGIF - Thank Goodness its Friday so here is a Happy Friday to you! Or Aloha Friday, That is, unless you suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia. That's a big way of saying you are afraid of Friday the 13th, which is today.
The Skeptic's Dictionary defines friggatriskaidekaphobia as "a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th," and explains it this way:
"Friday is Frigga's Day. Frigga (Frigg) was an ancient Scandinavian fertility and love goddess, equivalent to the Roman Venus who had been worshiped on the sixth day of the week. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil — a gathering of thirteen — and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week. Christians called Frigga a witch and Friday the witches' Sabbath."
Why Friday? Explanations include that Friday was the day Jesus Christ was crucified. Also Friday as an unlucky day dates back to the 14th century and "The Canterbury Tales." As for 13, the ancient Egyptian belief that the 13th stage of life is death is one reason cited, according to MacMillan Dictionary.
Another theory about the origin of the superstition traces the event to the arrest of the legendary Knights Templar. The Knights Templar were a monastic military order founded in Jerusalem in the year 1118. Their original mission was to guide and protect Christian pilgrims along the path from Europe to Jerusalem during the Crusades. Through this mission, the Templars developed a banking system to protect the finances of the traveling pilgrims, then expanded this system throughout their holdings in Europe. Over time, France's Philip IV amassed a debt to the Knights Templar for years of service.
So King Philip on October 13, 1307 set out charges against the Templars were of the highest accusations of heresy.
And in pop-culture we cannot mention Friday the 13th without mentioning the franchise jauggernaught movies with the same name. Friday the 13th, an American horror franchise that comprises twelve slasher films, a television show, novels, comic books, and tie‑in merchandise. The franchise mainly focuses on the fictional character Jason Voorhees, who drowned as a boy at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumored to be "cursed" and is the setting for a series of mass murders. Jason is featured in all of the films, as either the killer or the motivation for the killings.
If you do suffer from this fear of Friday the 13th, then you are paraskevidekatriaphobic, according to MacMillan Dictionary. So how legitimate is the idea of bad luck on a Friday the 13th? Whether real or imagined, the day seems to bring some less-favorable results. I am sure the movies and folklore do not help in this matter. However, the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, N.C., estimated that 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of Friday the 13th. Another related estimate from the center said businesses lose $800 million-$900 million on Friday the 13th because people will not fly or do business they would normally do.
People who consider themselves unlucky to begin with are more likely to believe in superstitions that are associated with bad luck.Their beliefs and behavior are likely to be part of a much bigger worldview," he said. "They will believe that luck is a magical force and that it can ruin their lives."
HAPPY FRIDAY the 13th everybody!
"Friday is Frigga's Day. Frigga (Frigg) was an ancient Scandinavian fertility and love goddess, equivalent to the Roman Venus who had been worshiped on the sixth day of the week. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil — a gathering of thirteen — and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week. Christians called Frigga a witch and Friday the witches' Sabbath."
Why Friday? Explanations include that Friday was the day Jesus Christ was crucified. Also Friday as an unlucky day dates back to the 14th century and "The Canterbury Tales." As for 13, the ancient Egyptian belief that the 13th stage of life is death is one reason cited, according to MacMillan Dictionary.
Another theory about the origin of the superstition traces the event to the arrest of the legendary Knights Templar. The Knights Templar were a monastic military order founded in Jerusalem in the year 1118. Their original mission was to guide and protect Christian pilgrims along the path from Europe to Jerusalem during the Crusades. Through this mission, the Templars developed a banking system to protect the finances of the traveling pilgrims, then expanded this system throughout their holdings in Europe. Over time, France's Philip IV amassed a debt to the Knights Templar for years of service.
So King Philip on October 13, 1307 set out charges against the Templars were of the highest accusations of heresy.
If you do suffer from this fear of Friday the 13th, then you are paraskevidekatriaphobic, according to MacMillan Dictionary. So how legitimate is the idea of bad luck on a Friday the 13th? Whether real or imagined, the day seems to bring some less-favorable results. I am sure the movies and folklore do not help in this matter. However, the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, N.C., estimated that 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of Friday the 13th. Another related estimate from the center said businesses lose $800 million-$900 million on Friday the 13th because people will not fly or do business they would normally do.
People who consider themselves unlucky to begin with are more likely to believe in superstitions that are associated with bad luck.Their beliefs and behavior are likely to be part of a much bigger worldview," he said. "They will believe that luck is a magical force and that it can ruin their lives."
HAPPY FRIDAY the 13th everybody!
