Happy Friday the 13th! ... Or not..?

The sixth day of the week. The thirteenth day of the month. With their associations to evil, these two numbers are eerie enough by themselves; put them together and all hell breaks loose. According to the superstitious anyway. That raises the question: Why are we so afraid of Friday the 13th?

Honestly, I enjoy the fact that it's Friday the 13th, and not because it's supposed to be evil. I don't believe that. It gives the day an aura kinda like Halloween, my favorite time of the year, and I love the spookiness that goes along with the day. Other people, on the other hand, will go so far as to forgo driving on this day due to their paralyzing superstition. I wonder how many people called in sick today?

Friday the 13th only came to exist because we created the calendar. It's an 'evil' of our own making (most evils in the world are) and people tend to take it very seriously. Think about it. Our world, our time, revolves around the number twelve ~ the number of 'completeness.' Twelve months in a year, twelve hours on the clock, twelve apostles... you get the idea. Thirteen is considered the 'Devil's Dozen.' It's also said, based on the Last Supper, that if you having thirteen people at a table will result in the death of one seated. Scientific studies have been done, and according to the British Medical Journal, car accidents increase "by as much as 52 percent." I guess I believe the numbers, but how much of that percentage is real and how much is caused by people thinking it will happen, so it does? We do that, you know. We get all worked up and afraid of something, inhibiting our perceptions, so the bad things we were so afraid of do happen, not because of evil lurking around a specific day of the month, but because we allowed it to control our thoughts.

To top it off, there are three occurrences of Friday the 13th in 2012 (supposedly the 'year of doom'), all exactly thirteen weeks apart. How spooky is that?

So, books to read on this cursed day:




Friday the 13th by Simon Hawke

Friday the 13th by Michael Avallone

So, whether you're superstitious or not, good luck on this supposedly unlucky day!

Happy Reading Everyone :)

~ Keely ~