The Origin of Unlucky Day - 13th Friday

We all know 13^th Friday to be considered the most unlucky day of the year but how many of us know the origin of unlucky day. We do not have to be the smartest creatures on the earth to understand the date 13^th Friday to be combination between the worst possible number and day but the origin of unlucky day is bigger mystery. Nevertheless whatever the origin of unlucky day is we should find out to know if we have anything to fear or no on 13^th Friday.

I think many people love Friday because it is the start of the weekend, though I think people love Saturday more because it is already the weekend. Yes I know that some people hate Saturday because they have huge hangover on that day so they probably favor Friday more. You can never please everybody. The number 13 is better known as unlucky number so let us start the search for number 13.

Is number 13 happy or unhappy number?

If we believe in bad luck we must believe also in good luck, to the opposites as ying and yang, good and bad, hot and cold et cetera. Let us start the search by finding out if number 13 is happy or unhappy number. A happy number is defined in mathematics to be a number what equals 1 after you replace the number by the sum of the squares of its digits and repeat the process until you end up to 1 or to the endless loop. Let us see what is says about number 13:

1*1+3*3=10

1*1+0*0=1

So we have a happy number, so far nothing to fear so far. The first ten happy numbers are 1, 7, 10, 13, 19, 23, 28, 31, 32 and 44. To be in the same group with numbers as 1, 7 and 10 is good for number 13 because those numbers are usually considered to be lucky numbers so we have so far nothing to fear. Number 13 is also considered to have pure and unique nature in mathematics because it is one prime number and is only divisible by itself.

Mythological stories including number 13

The origin of unlucky day is easy to understand if we check two symbolic stories where the number 13 is the best known from. In Christianity Jesus spent his last supper with his 12 disciples forming a group of 13. The happenings after the last supper leaded to the crucifixion of Jesus.

The other story comes from the Norse mythology and is told to be the reason why Vikings never ate with 13 people in the dinner table. Valhalla was enormous hall located in Asgard, what was the country of the Norse Gods. Honorary banquet was held in Valhalla for Balder who was the God of light innocence. Loki, the God of mischief heard about this and entered the banquet as unwanted 13^th guest. Later Balder dies because of the actions of Loki.

Balder was told to be the best, so fair and bright that even the light shines from him. The both of these happenings explain the origin of number 13 as unlucky number. It is easily understandable but as mythological stories often have the symbolism we can try to understand the number 13 in different way too. In both stories, in the Bible and in the Norse mythology the story concentrates around one extremely good person and one less good person. Why cannot we understand the number 13 to describe Jesus and Balder? The number 13 would have totally different meaning in that case.

Number 13 had a meaning before the time of Norse mythologies or Christianity. In ancient Egypt number 13 represented the stage of a person after the death. The person had to accomplish the transformation to accomplish spiritual completion or to reincarnate back on earth to develop oneself. In Greece mythology Zeus was the 13^th god and the God of the other Gods, and ancients Mexicans had 13 snake gods. Number 13 was clearly liked, maybe because there are 13 moons in one calendar year and observing the sky was important for the people "without electricity".

The transformation to be the bad luck number

We can guess, that number 13 has not been always the unlucky number and one meaning of number 13 has been to describe the transformation after the death. Number 13 is considered to be the unlucky number mostly in Christian countries so when we start to think about the relationship of number 13 and Christianity we are one step closer the origin of unlucky day, 13^th Friday. The reincarnation is one aspect in different religions around the world as well as Christianity did too until the year 553 in the Second Council of Constantinople the teachings of reincarnation were doomed to be heretic. When number 13 was believed to symbolize the transformation after the death making people to believe in reincarnation it was good to give other explanation for number 13 to make it to be the unlucky number. It is only a theory but it is one possibility.

What about Friday?

Friday was before Sunday the rest day of people. It was the holy day and still is in some countries as for example in Muslim countries. If we think about the same reason we had with number 13 we can easily understand why the Church would associate Friday with number 13 to be the unlucky day and we have the origin of unlucky day, 13^th Friday solved.

Other explanations

13.10.1307 King Philip, the King of France ordered secretly the mass arrest of all the Knight Templar in France and yes as you can guess the date happened to be 13^th Friday. The Knight Templar protected Christian pilgrims during the Crusades and their organization had come extremely rich and powerful. When something bad has happened it has always been Friday in Christianity, for example Jesus was crucified on Friday.

The Sabbath of the witches will be another story. In Norse mythology the Friday was named for Frigga, their Goddess of love and fertility. When Nordic and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity Frigga was banished but people believed that every Friday the spiteful Goddess met 11 witches and the devil on the top of a mountain. You can only guess what this meeting of 13 planned in their meetings and what was the origin of such story.

Tarot and number 13 in the flag of USA

In Tarot number 13 is represented in the death card. Nobody knows the origin of Tarot but the card of the death is said to symbolize the same things as ancient Egyptians thought it to represent, the transition and chance.

The first national flag of United States had 13 stars describing the first 13 colonies and even today the flag has 13 stripes. You can only ask why the new born nation would like to have the unlucky number so well represented in their flag. Did the foundation fathers of United States have something wrong in their mentality or what if they wanted to symbolize the transition and chance they believed number 13 representing.

Whatever was the reason they did not seem to believe number 13 to be unlucky number. Maybe they had better knowledge of the origin of unlucky day, 13^th Friday. In occult science numerology it is told that "He who understands the number 13 will be given power and dominion. It is a number of upheaval and destruction, a symbol of power which, if wrongly used, will wreak havoc and destruction upon itself."

The last words

Of course it never hurts anybody to be careful as for example if you stay in hotels, you do not have to worry too much. The hotels usually have no room number 13 but if you have to stay in a room number 14 remember one thing. If there were no superstitious beliefs about the number 13, your room would have the unlucky number. If you read this writing in a hotel, your room happens to be number 14 and even if the day is Friday do not panic and commit suicide by jumping out from the window before more horrible things than death happens. Many people live in the apartment number 13 and nothing bad happens even during the Fridays. The origin of unlucky day 13^th Friday is still mystery. Anyway considering what we know the history of the possible origin of unlucky day 13^th Friday, I would dare to say we have no reason to believe the date to be any worse compared among any other date.