It's Your (Un)lucky Day!

We've all heard the superstitions: "Step on a crack, break your mother's back". It's bad luck for a black cat to walk in front of you. It's bad luck to walk under a ladder. Breaking a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck. And I'm sure you can add many more, but you get the idea. We have our superstitions.

Well today is Friday, the 13th. That is considered, in our culture, to be the ultimate day of bad luck. Supposedly we should all stay home in bed to avoid becoming victims of any unfortunate events. And since most of us can't shirk our duties and stay in bed we just have to get out and take our chances.

Where did this superstition originate? I wondered that myself so I Googled the question. (How did we ever find out anything before Google?) According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia of knowledge, this superstition has only existed for the past 150 years or so, which in the whole scheme of time is only a short time. It was based on ancient superstitions that the number 13 is bad luck, although in some cultures it is considered good luck. Supposedly it came from the fact that there were 13 men present at the Last Supper, Jesus and his 12 disciples. And since Judas was one of the 13, and since his presence didn't bode well, the number 13 was the unlucky component of that betrayal. 

Friday was considered a bad luck day because it was the day of Jesus' crucifixion. And it was supposedly (although I can't imagine that anybody really KNOWS this) the day that Eve tempted Adam to eat the forbidden fruit, which led to their, and eventually all mankind's, spiritual death. So they put it all together and we supposedly have the most unlucky of unlucky days on Friday the 13th!

The 13th falls on a Friday anywhere from 1 to 3 times a year, usually twice. This year it was in January and again today, in October. I can't even recall January 13, 2017, but I'm fairly certain it was no worse than any other day this year...and there have been some doozies! 

An insurance company in the Netherlands set out to prove or disprove the idea that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day. What they actually discovered is that there were a slightly smaller number of accidents on Friday the 13th, supposedly because so many people refuse to get out and take a trip anywhere on that day! 

So even though the day is early, I am going to stick my neck out here and say that I don't expect today to be any different from any other day. Now if I am run over by a truck or fall down the steps and break my neck, you can all use this to disprove my theory that Friday the 13th is no more or less lucky than any other day. But I'm going to go about my business as usual assuming that the day will turn out just fine.

So here's wishing you a wonderful Friday the 13th!

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