WHAT’S THE STORY?

In two words: Triskaidekaphobia and Paraskevidekatriaphobia.

Today is Friday October 13, and all around the globe there are people who dread this day as it is considered unlucky, particularly in the Western world.

Those who suffer from Paraskevidekatriaphobia specifically dread Friday the 13th whenever that day occurs, while Triskaidekaphobics are fearful of the number 13 all the time, so this is not a good day for them.

No-one knows exactly how many people fall into these two categories, but a recent poll found that 10 per cent of the population of the USA are superstitious or worse about the number 13.

According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, the losses to the American economy because a lot of people basically do nothing but hide on Friday the 13th is between $800 million and $900m every year, with this year already having seen one in January with the second being today. There is at least one every year, and 2026 will be the next occasion when the maximum of three will occur.

IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME

Both words derive from Greek, Triskeidekaphobia meaning literally three (tris) and (kai) ten (deka) fear (phobos) in Ancient Greek while Paraskevidekatriaphobia is actually a modern word, coined in the early 1990s by acclaimed American stress and phobia expert Dr Donald Dossey who died last year. He wasn’t much of an ancient Greek scholar, it has to be said, because he used the modern Greek words for Friday: “paraskevi” long ago replaced “hemera Aphrodites” – and for 13, he used the more modern form “dekatria”. It should be pointed out that the original word for fear of Friday the 13th was “friggatriskaidekaphobia” as Frigg or Frige was the Norse goddess of wisdom and wife of Odin after whom Friday is named – not Freyja, the Norse Goddess of love, as is often thought.

SO WHY ARE FRIDAY AND 13 CONSIDERED UNLUCKY?

There are various different schools of thought about the superstition which, it should be remembered, is no laughing matter when it really does become a phobia for some people who eventually need psychiatric counselling.

Neither Friday nor the number 13 were considered unlucky across most of the world until relatively recently. In Norse mythology the mischievous Loki is said to have been the thirteenth person at Odin’s dinner at the end of which the much-loved god Baldur was killed – a possible source for triskaidekaphobia.

The most likely reason why 13 has been considered unlucky in Christianised countries for the past five centuries or so is because there were 13 people at the Last Supper of Jesus Christ and his apostles, including the traitor Judas. It was only when Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci started to include Judas – Perugino, Albrecht Dürer and other artists did not – that it was realised that there had been 13 men in the room, and one of them was to die, with Christ’s execution traditionally said to have happened on a Friday. Put together Friday and 13 and you have a combination which was seen as unlucky from the 15th to 16th centuries onwards.

Even before then, the Ancient Egyptians believed there were 12 stages in life with death being the thirteenth. In ancient China, 13 was also considered unlucky but then transformed to become a lucky number while four became that culture’s unlucky numeral – many tall buildings in Eastern Asia to this day do not have a fourth floor, the written character for four in Classical Chinese being very similar to that meaning death.

WHAT ABOUT THE TEMPLAR CONNECTION?

There is no truth in the rumour that Friday the 13th became unlucky soon after the Knights Templar were all rounded up on that day in 1307 on the orders of King Phillip IV of France – the same Phillip who had signed the Auld Alliance with Scotland 12 years earlier. It took Phillip and his subservient ally Pope Clement V several years to suppress the Templars and contrary to certain books, the last Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, said by Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown to have been burned to death for heresy on Friday the 13th was actually executed much later – on the 18th of March, 1314, a Sunday in the Gregorian Calendar and a Monday in the ancient Julian Calendar.

IT’S REALLY ALL ABOUT THE MOVIES, ISN’T IT?

Nope. A novel called Friday, The Thirteenth by Thomas W Lawson was very popular when it was published in 1907. The American author chose that day and date for his fictional work about the collapse of the Wall Street stock market – the real event in 1929 took place on Black Tuesday, 29 October, it should be said.

Beginning in 1980, the Friday 13th slasher movies certainly made sure that the association between Friday, 13, and dearth of luck stayed high in the public mind as the franchise developed – and has certainly proved very lucky for its first producer, Sean S Cunningham, then New Line Cinema and now Warner Bros, with the twelfth film in the series boosting the franchise earnings to over $500m.

Friday the 13th, it seems, can be lucky for some, but we would suggest not walking under any ladders or opening your umbrella indoors today.