1. Origins of the Superstition
Friday the 13th

2. Garden of Eden, Tower of Babel, Flood, Solomon’s Temple destroyed, & Crucifiction
Pagan Rome—Execution Day
(Later) Britain—Hangman’s Day
Pagan/Pre-Christian Sabbath (so unholy unlucky, like trips, & enemies tied to witchcraft: “Witches’ Sabbath”)
Black Friday, stock market crashes (1800s on)
Unlucky to start trip, begin new projects
Unlucky Friday

4. Friday Legends

5. Unlucky #13 #12 completeness #13 irregular, transgressing completeness
Egyptian beliefs in stages of life/death
Last Supper
Primitive man, counting
Patriarchal culture villifying women
Hindus at dinner/Vikings at dinner
Unlucky #13

6. #13 Legends

7. Other Days Tuesday the 13th, Spanish cultures Tuesdays, Greek
Fridays, Indonesian (Java)
Other Days

8. Chinese culture
(Egyptian culture, during the pharoahs)
13 as Lucky

9. Frigg/Freya: Friday & 13 —from lucky to unlucky

10. DaVinci Code/Knights Templar

11. Combination Origin unclear & relatively modern (1900s)
Might just be unlucky Friday & unlucky 13 = more unlucky day
Popularity from book, Friday the 13th (stockbroker’s crash)
Combination

12. Phobia of Friday the 13th “friggatriskaidekaphobia”
“frigga” (Frigga goddess/Friday) + “triskaidekaphobia” (fear of #13)
Or “paraskevidekatriaphobia”
“para” (Gr. Friday) + “dekatreis” (thirteen) +
“phobia” (fear of)
Phobia of Friday the 13th

13. Is it unlucky?
Netherlands vs. England: different findings

14. America’s biggest superstition?