Why do we fear Friday the 13th?

Do you suffer from Friggatriskaidekaphobia, the fear of Friday the 13th?

You're not the only one. It is one of the most widespread superstitions in Western culture, along with seeing a black cat crossing the street or walking under a ladder.

An estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are actively affected by Friggatriskaidekaphobia – named after Frigga, the Norse goddess after whom Friday is named in English – or “Triskaidekaphobia”, the fear of the number 13.

Some people refuse to fly or make a deal on this day, while others refuse to leave home. Some buildings skip the 13th floor and go straight from the 12th to the 14th, there are dinner guests who refuse to eat at a table of 13, and there are airlines that don't have a 13th row.

But why are the number and date considered so unfortunate?

Uninvited guests, numerology and Jason

The origins of friggatriskaidekaphobia (or paraskevidekatriaphobia in some circles), like most superstitions, are difficult to determine.

The concept of the cursed number can be traced back to Norse mythology.

According to Viking myth, 12 gods celebrated a feast in Valhalla. A 13th uninvited guest named Loki – the god of mischief – came and tricked Hodr, the blind god of darkness, into shooting Balder the Handsome, the god of joy and cheerfulness, with an arrow made of mistletoe.

The superstition subsequently spread throughout Europe and became established until the beginning of the Christian era.

Then came the story of another dinner party: the Last Supper, attended by Jesus Christ and his disciples. The 13th guest was none other than Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, leading to his crucifixion on Good Friday.

In biblical tradition, Friday goes back even further: it is considered the day that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, as well as the day that Cain murdered his brother Abel.

Beyond myth and religion, for many the number 13 simply suffers from coming after the number 12.

Numerologists consider 12 to be a “complete number”: there are 12 months in the year, 12 hours of the clock, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 gods of Olympus… The number 13 is irregular in comparison.

As for Friday, many believe it to be in its 14th year since the publication of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales: “And on a Friday fell all this misfortune.”

A few millennia later, popular culture hasn't helped: Thomas William Lawson's 1907 novel Friday the Thirteenth tells the story of a stockbroker who causes chaos on Wall Street; the German bombing of Buckingham Palace took place on Friday, September 13, 1940; the ill-fated Apollo 13 moon mission; the “Friday the 13th” films, in which the killer Jason Voorhees, wearing a hockey mask, murders to his heart’s content…

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They all contributed to giving the date a bad reputation.

But some countries have a different opinion.

European variants

In Christian and Greek culture, Tuesday the 13th is traditionally considered an unlucky day.

In Greece, Tuesday is the day associated with the war god Ares, and the Greek name for “Tuesday” is “Triti,” or “the third,” which adds to the superstition as misfortune is said to come in groups of three.

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Add to that the fact that Constantinople fell on a Tuesday both times – in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade and in 1453 to the Ottomans – and you have one heck of a day.

In Italy the number 13 is even considered a lucky day and it is Friday the 17th.

The connection between the number 17 and misfortune comes from the Roman numerals for 17, XVII. If you rearrange them, the word VIXI, which translates to “I lived,” is the past tense, which implies death.

The airline Alitalia therefore decided not to use row 17 on its aircraft.

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Cheers to the Heathens (and Taylor Swift)

Both Friday and the number 13 have not always brought bad luck.

Organized religion and misogyny have silenced paganism and the celebration of women over the centuries, resulting in Friday the 13th being considered an unlucky day.

In pagan times, man believed that Friday had a unique connection with the divine feminine – which brings us back to Friggatriskaidekaphobia. As any mythology expert or Marvel fan knows, Frigga was the Queen of Asgard and a powerful sky goddess who was associated with love and motherhood and could prophesy fertility.

Therefore, Friday was considered a lucky day for marriage among the Nordic and Germanic peoples.

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The number 13 was considered a good luck charm in pre-Christian and god-worshiping cultures because it was related to the number of lunar and menstrual cycles in a calendar year.

And then there's US national hero Taylor Swift, who ended 2024 on a high after her Record-breaking world tour In the almost two years of its existence it has grossed $2.2 billion, making it the second year in a row Highest-grossing tour of all time War.

Doesn't sound very unfortunate, does it? But we digress…

Swift considers 13 her lucky number and often happened to have this number in her hand early in her career.

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“I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. My first No. 1 song had a 13-second intro,” she told MTV in 2009.

“Every time I've won an award, I've either sat in 13th place, in the 13th row, in the 13th. Whenever a 13 shows up in my life, it's basically a good thing.”

Maybe the legacy of Friday the 13th can be rewritten… Just follow TayTay's example and laugh in the face of danger.

At least it's better than trying to pronounce Friggatriskaidekaphobia.

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Good luck with that.