Friday 13th. - February 13th 2009
So, its Friday 13th and I'm in the library wondering whether or not I should be fearing for my life.Some people see this day as a good thing (Kat Von D once remarked that her ex husband, Oliver, tattoos 13s onto people every time this day comes around) and some dread it completely - a phobia complicatedly titled paraskavedekatriaphobia, which I won't even try to pronounce, let alone memorise.Being that there are 3 bouts of Friday 13th this year, I decided to look into it a little further. Is this going to be an incredibly unlucky year for everyone? (Financially, of course it will be, but I'm not going to be another of those irritating people who go on and on about the recession.)Before the 19th century there was no mention of Friday 13th, and it is generally pretty unclear where the superstition came from. I am a complete video game geek, particularly for the Broken Sword series. I recently downloaded and played BS2.5 (seriously, get out there and download it. Its a fan game, its free and its awesome) and I noticed one mission referred to Friday 13th in connection with the Knights Templar. So, out came Wiki, and it told me that King Philip secretly ordered the mass arrest of all the Knights Templar in France on Friday, October 13, 1307 - Friday the 13th. Nah, not strong enough to be a universal superstition, I don't think. Soviet forces invaded Poland on 17th September, back in WWII but nobody is superstitious about this day... It just isn't a big enough deal to have lasted this long. (though I'm sure some of the Knight's Templar might have something to say about that!)The origin may also be Norse. Friday is named for Frigga, the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil - a gathering of thirteen - and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week. For many centuries in Scandinavia, Friday was known as "Witches' Sabbath". This one, though, I'm not so sure about. As far as witchy tales go, I'm not that into them. It rates up there with Christianity in the unbelievable scale, I'm afraid. And, no, I'm not going to get a tirade of abuse for that, because nobody's bothered to read this far. Heck, I wouldn't have. Back to the point, though, I don't see how this makes sense. Surely this'd mean that every Friday is unlucky? Wiki seems to be pretty inconclusive, to be honest. I can't find any solid argument to suggest that I should be quivering under my duvet and praying for Saturday (Valentines Day, incedentally, which I most certainly am not praying for). Actually, Friday 13th is reportedly the safest day of the year, because everyone's being so damned careful. I'm sending out a bit of a conflicted message then, guys - you don't need to bother staying safe, because everyone else is. But if you aren't being safe, you probably should. Its Friday 13th, afterall.I'd love to hear other peoples' views on this, or see if anyone has any solid fact!