Why does 'Friday the 13th' have foreboding reputation worldwide?

It is said that the combination of sixth day of the week and the number 13 have foreboding reputation worldwide, hence every time Friday the 13th comes around on the calendar, a lot of people are gripped by fear.

Those who fear this 'day of apocalypse', friggatriskaidekaphobiacs, will be able to breathe easy a few hours later as this is the last such day this year. This phenomenon happens at least once a year. But in 2012, this day came back to haunt some people three times.

Friday the 13th is a special day that is tied to numerous myths and superstitions. Those who fear this day can calculate such occurrences on their own by simply looking out for months that start on a Sunday. There will be a Friday the 13th 12 days later.

According to folklorists, there is no written evidence for a "Friday the 13th" superstition before the 19th century. The earliest known documented reference in English occurs in Henry Sutherland Edwards' 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini, who died on a Friday 13th.

Several theories exist about the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition. Most experts agree that this is a relatively recent correlation, and most likely a modern-day invention.

SUPERSTITIOUS THEORY

In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve hours of the clock, twelve gods of Olympus, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, the 12 successors of Muhammad in Shia Islam, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness.

There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper or a Norse myth, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.

Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales, and many other professions have regarded Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys or begin new projects.
Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s.

One author, noting that references are all but nonexistent before 1907 but frequently seen thereafter, has argued that its popularity derives from the publication that year of Thomas W. Lawson's popular novel Friday, the Thirteenth, in which an unscrupulous broker takes advantage of the superstition to create a Wall Street panic on a Friday the 13th.

Records of the superstition are rarely found before the 20th century, when it became extremely common. The connection between the Friday the 13th superstition and the Knights Templar was popularized in Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code and in John J. Robinson's 1989 work Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry.

On Friday, 13 October 1307, hundreds of the Knights Templar were arrested in France, an action apparently motivated financially and undertaken by the efficient royal bureaucracy to increase the prestige of the crown.

Philip IV was the force behind this ruthless move, but it has also tarnished the historical reputation of Clement V.

From the very day of Clement V's coronation, the king falsely charged the Templars with heresy, immorality and abuses, and the scruples of the Pope were compromised by a growing sense that the burgeoning French State might not wait for the Church, but would proceed independently.

FOLLOWERS OF SUPERSTITION

Even if the masses are not scared of the 'fearsome' combo, people don't like to take risks.

If reports are to be believed, more than 80 per cent of high-rises lack the 13th floor.

Anxiety related to the number 13 is further evidenced by numerous airports that skip the 13th gate, most hospitals and hotels throughout the world have no room number 13 and some even skip the 13th floor altogether.

According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in the US, about 17-21 million Americans are affected by the fear of Friday the 13th.

It's been estimated that $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day because people decide not to fly or do business they would normally do. Many triskaidekaphobes, as those who fear the unlucky integer are known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.

According to a study published in in the British Medical Journal, found that the traffic accident risk increases by as much as 52 per cent on Friday the 13th, compared to a normal Friday.

Finally, the key to remaining fearless on this day is to stay positive.

For the believers: this too shall pass!

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