Today is Friday the 13th — the unluckiest day of the year — so try not to crash your car, fall down a flight of stairs, set yourself on fire or do anything else that might compromise your well-being. And for goodness sake, stay away from men in hockey masks. But why do we dread this day so much, I mean surely it’s only superstition?

I have compiled a brief history on the possible origins of why Friday the 13th is such an unlucky day. Now obviously there are many conspiracy theories, but these seem to the main ones-

One theory states that it is a modern mix of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day.

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 hours of the clock etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, upsetting this ‘completeness’.

Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century. Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s. It has also been suggested that Friday has been considered an unlucky day because Jesus was crucified on a Friday and there were 13 people at the last supper.

Some interesting Friday the 13th superstitions (Use them or lose them)

  • If you cut your hair on Friday the 13th, someone in your family will die. (Better be careful Elzet WOOOOHHHAAAAA)
  • A child born on Friday the 13th will be unlucky for life. (I have met some unlucky people in my time and none of them were born on Friday the 13th)
  • If a funeral procession passes you on Friday the 13th, you will be the next to die. (Jeez can you imagine how many cars are passed by a funeral procession, especially if the grave yard is miles away from the church)

So, it seems that 13 is considered an unlucky number and Friday is considered an unlucky day, put them together and you have pandemonium, people don’t leave their houses, black cats are looked upon as angels of death and bad things tend to happen to good people.

So my question is, is Friday the 13th genuinely a bad day to do stuff, are the numerologists and folklorists right in saying it is the most unluckiest day of the year, or are we almost willing bad things to happen to us because of the phobia and hype around the day?

How superstitious are you, do you throw spilt salt over your left shoulder, do you wear lucky underwear or even avoid step ladders like the plague?