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stuff works dot com where smart happens. Hi, I'm Marshall Brain with today's question, why is it considered unlucky when the thirteenth day in the month lands on a Friday? In North America and Europe, a significant portion of the population behaves very strangely on Friday. They won't fly in airplanes, host a party, apply for a job, get married, or even start a new project. Some people won't come into work. In the United States, roughly eight percent of the population
is afraid or Friday. Friday as we know it has its roots in many traditions and cultures. The superstitions surrounding Friday the thirteenth is actually a combination of two separate fears, the fear of the number thirteen and the fear of Fridays. The most familiar source of both these phobias is Christian theology. Thirteen is significant to Christians because it's the number of people who were present at the Last Supper Jesus plus his twelve apostles. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was
the thirteenth member of the party to arrive. Christians have traditionally been wary of Fridays as well, because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. In addition to that, some theologians hold that Adam and Eve eight from the Forbidden Fruit on a Friday, and that the Great Flood began on a Friday. In the past, many Christians would never begin any new project or trip on a Friday, for fear
that the endeavor would be doomed from the start. Sailors were particularly super issius in this regard, often refusing to ship out on a Friday. According to legend, in the eighteenth century, the British Navy commissioned a ship called the HMS Friday in order to quell this very superstition. The Navy selected the crew on a Friday, They launched the ship on a Friday, and even selected a man named James Friday as the ship's captain. Then one Friday morning,
the ship set off on its maiden voyage and disappeared forever. Don't, don't duh, and let's not even get started on Apollo thirteen. Some historians trace the Christian distrust of Fridays to the Church's overall opposition to pagan religions. Friday is named after Frigg, the Norse goddess of love and sex. This strong female figure, these historians claim, posed a threat to male dominated Christianity. To fight her influence, the Christian Church characterized her as
a witch, vilifying the day named after her. This characterization may also have played a part in the fear of the number thirteen. It was said that Frigg would often join a covid of witches, normally a group of twelve, bringing the total to thirteen. A similar Christian tradition holds that thirteen is unholy because it signifies the gathering of twelve, which is in the devil. Some trace the infamy of
the number thirteen back to ancient Norse culture. In Norse mythology, the beloved herold Balder was killed at a banquet by the malevolent 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 connotations of the number thirteen. You should never sit down to a meal in a group of thirteen.
Another significant part of the Friday the thirteenth 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 burned the re Veared Nights templar at the Stake, marking the occasion as a day of evil. Some people come to fear Friday because of misfortune they've experienced on that day in the past. If you get in a car wreck on one Friday or lose your wallet,
that day is bound to stay with you. But if you think about it, bad things happen all the time. So if you're looking for bad luck on Friday, you'll probably find it, but you can just as easily find it on any other day as well. For more on this and thousands of other topics. Because it has staff works dot com, streaming TV shows and movies directly to your home is a breeze. With Netflix. As a Netflix member, you can instantly watch TV and movies on your PC, mac,
mobile device, or right on your television. Get a free thirty day trial membership. Go to Netflix dot com slash brain stuff and sign up today.