Why do people think Friday the 13th is curse?

Answer 1

It's the number, moreso than the day, in most cases.

13 is considered unlucky by many different cultures.

The basis for this superstition stems from the events that took place on Friday, October 13, 1307. On that day, the Pope of the Roman Catholic church, in combination with the King of France, sentenced the "the Knights Templar" to death and ordered the torture and crucifixion of their leader.

Some say the number 13 was purposely vilified by the priests of patriarchal religions because it represented femininity. Thirteen corresponded to the number of lunar (menstrual) cycles in a year, and the number was revered in prehistoric goddess-worshipping cultures.

Hindus believed that it was unlucky for 13 people to gather in one place. This conviction was shared by the ancient Scandinavians.

Many biblical events of negative import supposedly occurred on a Friday, including the ejection of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, the start of the Great Flood, and the crucifixion of Jesus.

Taken from http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20010326.html

Answer 2

Because there silly. And Superstitious. Because the number 13 is associated with evil.


Suggested explanations

Thirteen may be considered a "bad" number simply because when a group of 13 objects or people is divided into two, three, four or six equal groups, there is always one leftover, or "unlucky", object or person.

It was suggested by Charles Platt writing in 1925 that the reason 13 is considered unlucky is that a person can count from 1-12 with their 10 fingers and 2 feet, but not beyond that, so the number 13 is unknown, hence frightening, hence unlucky.[4] This idea discounts the use of toes or other body parts in counting.

Some Christian traditions have it that at the Last Supper, Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th to sit at the table.

According to another interpretation, the number 13 is unlucky because it is the number of full moons in a year. Actually two full moons in a single calendar month (referred to as a blue moon) only happens about every 2.5 years, so to say there are 13 full moons in a year is false. On average, there will be 41 months that have two full moons in a century, so a Blue Moon actually occurs about once every two-and-a-half years, and is in no way related to the number 13.[5] Early nursery rhymes stated there were thirteen months in a year because of the natural moon cycle that was used to count the lunar year. In England, a calendar of thirteen months of 28 days each, plus one extra day, known as "a year and a day" was still in use up to Tudor times. The lunar year was the easiest to count for cultures before scientific methods existed to observe the movement of the earth around the sun, so it was associated with worship of the pagan Great Goddess[citation needed] for thousands of years, which may be another reason for 13 becoming a taboo number. Taboo often is misunderstood when only half of the totem and taboo relationship is recognized. Among religions having totem and taboo characteristics, that which is taboo on a regular basis may become quite sacred on special occasions.

In Tarot decks, the 13th card of the Major Arcana is Death. While Death is rarely interpreted literally, it is possible that this furthered the perception of 13 as an unlucky number.

The legion with which Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon was the Legio XIII Gemina or the 13th legion.

[edit] Examples

In Scotland, there is no terminal 13 in any airport, instead there is a terminal 12B.

Some aeroplanes skip a row 13, going straight from 12 to 14.

Some tall buildings have resorted to skipping the "thirteenth floor", either by numbering it "14" or as "12a".

Some streets do not contain a house number 13.

The Code of Hammurabi, a collection of laws created ca. 1760 BC, does not contain a thirteenth law.

On the 13th day of the Persian new year (Norouz), people consider staying at home unlucky, and go outside for a picnic in order to ward off the bad luck.

Most race car drivers consider 13 a very unlucky number, as a car carrying that number has never won the Indianapolis 500 or a NASCAR Nextel Cup race, and almost all Formula 1 teams are no longer given the number 13 when car numbers are given out to teams on basis of points. Usually the team finishing seventh in the previous year's championship will take numbers 14 and 15, instead of 13 and 14. Only once in recent years (1991, Ricky Johnson) has an AMA Motocross rider chosen #13 instead of #14. Some NASCAR tracks refuse to have a pit stall #13.

On the Universal Studios sound stages in California, there is no sound stage numbered 13.

The creators of the online game entitled "The Kingdom Of Loathing" avoid the number 13 in all of their programming.

Answer 3

Because of ancient paganism. Freyja was an important goddess worshiped by Vikings and Germans. Friday is Her day. The number 13 is sacred to Her. She was(is) a Great Goddess who embodied feminine freedom, open sexuality, shamanic magick, cats, and other things the early Church didn't like much. They set her up to be an 'evil witch', made her associations, like Friday and 13, to be unlucky and tried to extinguish any knowledge of Her. 12 people is the 'traditional' number of witches for a coven. All of them together is a single unit, they are as one, which adds up to 13. In France today, friday 13 is still actually considered lucky and a good day to start new things. This is, if no hockey mask wearing killers are around.

Answer 4

No historical date has been verifiably identified as the origin of the superstition. Before the 20th century, although there is evidence that the number 13 was considered unlucky, and Friday was considered unlucky, there was no link between them. The first documented mention of a "Friday the 13th" is generally listed as occurring in the early 1900s

Answer 5

People don't think it's a curse, they think it is bad luck. The origin of the unlucky Friday side came because that was when Jesus died and thirteen was the number of people who attended his last dinner before he died. Now add Friday and 13 and what do you get? Friday the 13th! It's numerology really.

Answer 6

After I had an awful morning at school when I was eight I had to go to my aunts house werew I sobbed my heart up. She said, " What is the matter Friday the thirteenth is a lucky day, you've got it all wrong. " I decided that in future I would regard it as such, I will say no more ----

Answer 7

In the 12th century when the church decided that the nights Templar where to die, it was on Friday the 13th. If I remember correctly.

Answer 8

That's the day when all the Nights Templar were usurped of their power.

Answer 9

Superstition, some think it is unlucky, where other believe that it IS lucky.

Answer 10

don't know but Saturday 14th's are always bad for me