Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year.
The superstition surrounding this day may have arisen in the Middle Ages, “originating from the story of Jesus’ last supper and crucifixion” in which there were 13 individuals present in the Upper Room on the 13th of Nisan Maundy Thursday, the night before his death on Good Friday. While there is evidence of both Friday and the number 13 being considered unlucky, there is no record of the two items being referred to as especially unlucky in conjunction before the 19th century.
Plus, the number 13 is considered bad luck (google, it if you`re thinking `why`)
Some well-known events:
One of the worst natural disasters in history was on Nov. 13, 1970, when a cyclone hit Bangladesh, killing thousands of people.
On Oct. 13, 1972, a plane carrying a rugby team crashed into an Andes mountaintop. Some died upon impact, others were killed by weather conditions and even more in an avalanche. Sixteen survived and inspired the book and movie “Alive.”
On that same day, Oct. 13, 1972, a plane in Moscow crashed into the ground, killing all 174 on board. Maybe this explains the fear of flying on Friday the 13th.
The death of Tupac Shakur on Sept. 13, 1996, days after he was shot multiple times in a murder that remains unsolved, has sparked many conspiracy theories.
My opinion:
I personally don’t care. Plus, I’m not good with keeping track of the date so it doesn’t really bother me. I can’t recall any events that happened to me on Friday the 13th, so I’ll leave it at that.
Tia Vukelič, 9.a
FRIDAY 13th
Everybody knows that Friday 13th is an un lucky day but not many know why specifically that date. The number 13 comes from the Bible. Judas, who betrayed Jesus, is thought to have been the 13th guest to sit down to the Last Supper. And in Norse mythology, a dinner party of the gods was ruined by the 13th guest called Loki, who caused the world to be plunged into darkness. So in general the number 13 is a bad and unlucky number for a lot of people. But Friday doesn’t have a good reputation either. Good Friday was the day of Jesus’s crucifixion and in the UK, Friday was once known as Hangman’s Day because it was usually when people who had been suicidal would hang themselves.
There are many other accidences that convinced people it was an unlucky day. On Friday 13th in 2012 there was The Costa Concordia disaster in which 32 people drowned when the ship struck a rock. There was also an Air Force Flight 571 from Uruguay that crashed in the Andes, while flying members of a rugby team which happened on Friday 13th in 1972. And on Friday 13th in 1940 five German bombs hit Buckingham Palace.
People also took advantage of the unlucky day and made many horror movies that happen around the theme “Friday 13th”. Some hotels don’t even have a 13th floor but it jumps from 12 to 14. And even flights around the world are cheaper on Friday 13th because people are afraid the plane would crash. Personally I don’t have any bad experience with Friday 13th that I know of. I see it as a regular day and I also don’t really believe that anything bad would happen just because of it. I think it’s all in our heads but the fear of bad luck on Friday 13th would never go away.
Lina Pakiž, 9.a
Friday 13th
Historical background:
There are quite a lot of historical backgrounds like on Friday 13th of October 1307 there was an event where hundrets of Knights Templar were arrested and burnt across France, or on Good Friday the 13th person of the people who had the Last Supper – Jesus Christ and his 12 disciples – named Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ on Maundy Thursday and on Friday Jesus was crucifixed by the Roman soldiers.
Well known events:
There are a lot of events that happen on Friday 13th but not all of them are so big that they are worldwide these days. But the ones that are worldwide are let’s say Tupac’s death on Friday 13th 1996 or on the same date also two other things happened and those two were the bombing of the Blitz Buckingham Palace and the death of Kitty Genovesse who was murdered because nobody called for help. Then on Friday 13th October 1972 the Air Force 571 from Uruguay chrashed in the Andes.
My personal experience:
To me on Friday 13th usually nothing bad happenes but on the last Friday 13th there were a lot of bad things that happened to my family: my dad broke his leg and then my uncle broke 3 vehicles. In my opinion Friday 13th isn’t as bad as it sounds, in my opinion it’s more in your head, because you think something bad will happen to you and then because of your mentality you do something bad and then you kind of jinx yourself so if you don’t think about it you’ll be okay.
Aljaž Škufca, 9.a
Friday 13th
Every Friday 13th some people lock themselves in their houses or do something more or less strange and stupid because this date is known as the unlucky day.
The number 13 is unlucky because there were 13 guests at the Last Supper – Jesus and 12 apostles. The 13th – Juda betrayed Jesus. Also, hundreds of Knights Templars were arrested on Friday 13th.
Later in the history there were many more unlucky incidents on Friday 13th like the Costa Concordia crash, plane crash in Andes and other plane crashes, cyclone strikes and other bomb attacks and murders.
If the mentioned incidents have something to do with Friday 13th, I would bet on natural disasters and maybe crashes, but I wouldn’t bet on murders and attacks because they happened because of people’s mind and they were probably planned.
There are from 1 to 3 Fridays 13th each year so we can’t avoid them. You can just hope it won’t bring you bad luck, or start a politic career with a goal of eliminating Fridays 13th out of the calendar.
Luka Stražišar, 9.a
FRIDAY 13th
Almost everyone has already heard something about Friday 13th being an unlucky day but just a few of them know why.
Number 13 has been considered to bring bad luck for a long time. It comes from a Bible where Judas Iscariot was the 13th guest at the Last Supper and later he was the one who betrayed Jesus. It is also a public belief that number 13 is a number of imperfection comparing to number 12 which is considered as a number of completeness (12 months in a year, 12 apostles). And why exactly Friday? Because it is the day of Jesus’s crucifixion on a Good Friday and because in the UK, Friday was once known as Hungman’s day, when people who had been condemned to death would be hanged.
People then started to believe in bad luck of Friday 13th. There are some well known events connected to this date. For example, when the Costa Concordia sank and 32 people died. It was also a day when five German bombs were thrown to Buckingham Palace in 1940.
In my opinion no one should believe in the bad luck of Friday 13th because it is just an ordinary day. It’s all in our minds and it is scientifically proved that something is more likely to happen if you constantly think about that, so if you think that something bad will happen it probably will. You can break your leg every day and it can be a total coincidence but I’m sure that if it happens on Friday 13th you would make a whole drama out of it. We just pay more attention to bad things that happen to us on Friday 13th than the ones that happen on other days. So, I think we shouldn’t worry too much and just enjoy the day as any other because it happens once to twice a year and we can’t do anything about it.
Zala Stražišar, 9.a