Friday the 13 th

1. Friday the 13th Origins of the Superstition

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. #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. 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. 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. “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?