New Delhi: It’s Friday the 13th today, the date which sends down a chill with its name itself. It is considered as one of the most unluckiest and spooky dates of all.
13 have always been considered as an unlucky number and its link up with Friday makes it even worse. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Western calendar falls on a Friday.
Call it a superstition, but this date has some weird trivia facts associated with it.
Here we bring to you 10 trivia about Friday The 13th which proves why it is a bad luck:
1. Fear of the number 13 is triskaidekaphobia; fear of Friday the 13th is friggatriskaidekaphobia (after Frigga, the goddess who gave her name to Friday).
2. Medieval Christians thought Friday unlucky as it was the day of the crucifixion of Jesus. Also 13 has been thought unlucky since pre-Christian times, but the two were not linked until the 19th century.
3. The first reference to an unlucky Friday the 13th came in an 1869 biography of the composer Rossini who died on Friday November 13, 1868.
4. Number 13 has got a bad image because it comes after number 12 which is a number of ‘completion’ like 12 months in a year, 12 hours in a clock, 12 God of Olympus etc.
5. Many hospitals don’t have a room number with 13 in it as well as a 13th floor.
6. Every year has at least one Friday 13th and at most three.
7. In Paris, a 13th guest at a table is considered unlucky. In fact, people hire a quatorzieme (a professional 14th guest) to balance out the luck.
8. Research in Finland has shown that women are more likely to die in traffic accidents on Friday the 13th than on other Fridays.
9. The figures for men, however, showed no difference for Friday 13th traffic deaths.
10. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would never have a 13th guest at a meal, nor would he travel on the 13th day of any month.
11. Taylor Swift considers 13 her lucky number and used to paint 13 on her hand.
12. Exactly 200 characters have been killed in the 12 Friday the 13th films.
13. In any 400-year period, there are 688 Friday the 13ths. Sunday and Wednesday are next with 687.
