Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam. Here, 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 twelve periods called months, consisting of roughly thirty days each. All days are also grouped in two sets of seven called weeks, and in Europe.
In the America's a significant chunk of the population suspects that bad things will happen whenever the thirteenth day of a month occurs on the day of the week called Friday. Like many human beliefs, the fear of the number thirteen, which is triskyde decaphobia, or of Friday the thirteenth, known as paris kevi decca triophobia, isn't exactly grounded in scientific logic. But the really strange thing is that most people who believe the day is unlucky offered no explanation at all,
logical or illogical. As with most superstitions, people fear Friday the thirteenth for its own sake, without any need for background information. The superstition does have deep compelling roots, though and those origins help explain why the belief is so widespread today. The fear of Friday the thirteenth stems from two separate fears, the fear of the number thirteen and the fear of Fridays. Both have deep roots in Western culture,
and most notably in Christian theology. The number thirteen is significant therein because it's the number of people who were present at the Last Supper Jesus and his twelve apostles. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the thirteenth member of the party to arrive. Friday has had a negative connotation 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, some Christians would avoid beginning any new project or trip on a Friday, fearing that they would be doomed from the start. The sailors were particularly superstitious in this regard, often refusing to ship out on a Friday, and supposedly President Franklin D. Roosevelt was among these ranks. Some historians suggest that The Christian distrust of Friday's is actually linked to the early Catholic Church's
overall suppression of pagan religions and of women. In the Roman calendar, Friday was devoted to Venus, the goddess of love. When the Norse adapted the calendar, they named the day after Frigg or Freya, Norse goddesses connected to love and sex. The story goes that both of these strong female figures once posed a threat to male dominated Christianity, so the Christian Church vilified the day named after them. This characterization may also have played a part in the fear of
the number thirteen. It was said that Frigg would often join a coven of witches, normally a group of twelve, bringing the total to thirteen. 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 thirteen is unholy because it signifies the gathering of twelve witches and the devil. The number thirteen could also have been considered pagan because they're thirteen months in the pagan
Lunar calendar. The Lunar calendar also corresponds to the human menstrual cycle, connecting the number again to women. But there are other traditions that link the number thirteen and Friday thirteenth to unluckiness. 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 thirteen.
This story, as well as the story of the Last Supper, led to one of the most entrenched thirteen related beliefs that you should never sit down to a meal in a group of thirteen. Another significant piece of the legend is a particularly bad Friday the thirteenth that occurred in the Middle Ages. On a Friday the thirteenth in thirteen o six, King Philip of France arrested some of the revered knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil. Both Friday and the number
thirteen were one closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly thirteen steps leading up to the noose. There are rumors of a secret society starting in the late eighteen hundreds at William and Mary called the thirteens, said to be groups of thirteen students who would meet in
defiance of the superstition. The date was first enshrined in pop culture in nineteen o seven, when one Thomas Lawson wrote a novel called Friday Thirteenth about a stockbroker who purposefully crashes the stock market on that day. Around the same time, skyscrapers going up would often omit a thirteenth floor,
of practice that continues today. People point to the trials and tribulations faced by the astronauts of the Apollo thirteen mission, and of course, the wildly popular Friday the Thirteenth horror franchise about sometimes villain Jason Vorhees and Camp Crystal Lake further spread this ancient meme. Ultimately, the complex folklore of Friday the thirteenth 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 thirteenth is supposed to be unlucky for whatever reason, and then they look for evidence that the legend is true. Evidence isn't hard to come by. Of course, if you get in a car wreck on one Friday thirteenth, or 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, you'll probably find it, And perhaps unluckily, the thirteenth of a month falling on a Friday isn't particularly uncommon. It's actually one of the twenty eight most common dates on the calendar. Even if you don't take drastic precautions every Friday, are you totally immune to the superstition? Given the choice, would you get married, start a new job, or close on a house on
a Friday thirteenth? Most Americans wouldn't, even though they don't put much stock in the idea. Today's episode was written by Tom Harris and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.