Today is Friday 13th!!!!!
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
Where the superstition comes from……..
According to Wikipedia
- There were 13 people at the table (at the Last Supper) and the 13th was Jesus. The Last Supper was on a Thursday, and the next day was Friday, the day of crucifixion. When ’13’ and Friday come together, it’s a double whammy.[4]
- In Christian tradition, fear of Friday the 13th stems from the day of the Crucifixion (Friday) and the number at the [table at the] Last Supper (13 [men]). Despite these origins, the Friday the 13th superstition dates back only to the Middle Ages
History
Unluckiness of 13
Main article: Triskaidekaphobia
One source mentioned for the unlucky reputation of the number 13 is a Norse myth about twelve gods having a dinner party in Valhalla. The trickster god Loki, who was not invited, arrived as the thirteenth guest, and arranged for Höðr, the god of darkness, to shoot Balder, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died, triggering much suffering in the world, which caused the number 13 to be considered unlucky.[2][3]
Christian associations
The superstition seems to relate to various things, like the story of Jesus‘s Last Supper and crucifixion in which there were thirteen individuals present in the Upper Room on the thirteenth of Nisan Maundy Thursday, the night before his death on Good Friday. – See above.
In conjunction with Friday
While there is evidence of both Friday[7] and the number 13[8] being considered unlucky, there is no record of the two items being referred to as especially unlucky in conjunction before the 19th century.[9][10]
The Knights Templar
Some cite the arrest of the Knights Templar on Friday, October 13, 1307, by officers of King Philip IV of France as the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition, but it is agreed the origins remain murky.[11]
19th century
In France, Friday 13th might have been associated with misfortune as early as the first half of the 19th century. A character in the 1834 play Les Finesses des Gribouilles states, “I was born on a Friday, December 13th, 1813 from which come all of my misfortunes”.[12]
An early documented reference in English occurs in H. S. Edwards’ biography of Gioachino Rossini, who died on Friday 13th of November 1868:”Rossini was surrounded to the last by admiring friends; and if it be true that, like so many Italians, he regarded Fridays as an unlucky day and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that on Friday 13th of November he passed away.”[13]
Dissemination
It is possible that the publication in 1907 of T. W. Lawson‘s popular novel Friday, the Thirteenth,[14] contributed to popularizing the superstition. In the novel, an unscrupulous broker takes advantage of the superstition to create a Wall Street panic on a Friday the 13th.[9]
For more on thi sstory go to: WIKIPEDIA
