Friday the 13th! Why is today considered the third day of the year?

For those who don't believe it, it's just a number.

It is the worst that can happen to those who fear superstition, especially in Anglo-Saxon countries. Today is Friday the 13th. It is not science that wins in these cases, rather it is chance. The only advice is not to believe it and for those who believe it, not to suffer too much. It will be over in a few hours.

The numbers

The art of numbers is diverse. Does anyone really think Cristiano Ronaldo would play worse football if he wasn't wearing his number 7 shirt? No one. Just like no one should believe in lucky and unlucky numbers that vary depending on where you are. In the East, many are afraid of the number 4, and in very Catholic Spain, Fridays are not scary, but Tuesdays.

The unmotivated fear of the number 13 is called triscaidecaphobia, the fear of Friday the 13th is parascevedecatriaphobia, and the fear of the number 4 is tetraphobia Even superstitious people around the world know that this case is inevitable. There will always be Friday the 13th or 17th. At least one a year, let's say math and calendar.

The origins

What makes Friday the 13th unlucky, especially in Anglo-Saxon countries, has various and distant origins. None scientifically proven. The 13th in the Last Supper is Judas the traitor, and in Norse mythology the 13th demigod is the evil Loki, Thor's half-brother, who arrives uninvited at the banquet of the gods.

Jesus died on a Friday and it is the day on which hangings were carried out in Great Britain. All coincidences. There are 13 lunar months compared to 12 solar months. There are even those who say that 12 was the number of primitive humans with fingers and two feet. You can't get to 13 if you don't put your head down and that's why it was bad.

Cases of history

They are all coincidences, but, like many other dates, there are historical events that all happened on Friday the 13th. On this day, King Philip of France ordered the arrest of the Knights Templar. Also, on September 13, 1940, the Nazis bombed Buckingham Palace. On a Friday, November 13, 1970, a cyclone devastated Bangladesh, and also on a Friday, October 13, 1989, one of the biggest financial crises in history occurred.

It goes without saying that tens of thousands of other historical events have occurred on other dates: from the outbreak of world wars to dozens of attacks. There is also an anecdote that proves the opposite. In 1976, Daz Baxter from New York was apparently so scared of a Friday the 13th that he decided to stay in his bed. Mr Baxter was killed when the floor of his building collapsed.

The benefits of Friday the 13th

If you don't let yourself be swayed by myths and superstitions, Friday the 13th can bring countless advantages. Things done on days when no one wants to expose themselves to the dangers of fate, much less. The higher the supply, the lower the prices. This applies to both travel and weddings. Friday the 13th is bad for the economy because it leads to less profits for businesses (one estimate says $900 million), but an advantage for the consumer who doesn't allow himself to be intimidated by superstitions. If there are those who do not leave their homes, the traffic decreases and with it the risk of accidents.

Literature

Unlucky Friday is mentioned in The Canterbury Tales, but it has been firmly established in Western literature since the 17th century. The day and number do not appear together until the 20th century with the 1907 novel 'Friday the Thirteenth'.

There are even those who think that those who wanted to destroy superstitions were the ones who caused the fame of Friday the 13th to grow. A Philadelphia group, the Friday the 13th Club, consisted of 13 men who met between 1936 and 2000 every Friday the 13th at 1:13 p.m. They would eat lunch, go down the stairs, throw some salt and break the mirrors. They stopped at the year 2000 because according to the calendar they had created they would all be dead by that date.

Even older is the Skeptics Club of New York, dated January 13, 1882 by Captain William Fowler. It was called The Thirteen Club and the membership fee was also 13 cents a month or dollars for lifetime membership. 1,300 registered including President Theodore Roosevelt. There are versions in London and Paris. The next President Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, no longer traveled 13 and was feared like Napoleon.