Friday The13th Superstitions

By Bobby Pollier

There are two types of people in this world; believers and non-believers. To the superstitious aka the believers, Friday the 13^th marks a day of stress and unexpected troubles.

Unfortunately for them, 2012 brings us a whopping three: January 13^th, April 13^th and presently July 13^th. Oddly enough, all of these respected dates are evenly apart by 13 weeks! Which hasn't happened since 1984.

According to Wikipedia, the earliest reference of the western superstition came from a quote out of the pages of an 1869 biography about Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, who passed on a Friday the 13^th.

"He [Rossini] was surrounded to the last by admiring friends; and if it be true that, like so many Italians, he regarded Fridays as an unlucky day and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that one Friday 13th of November he died."

Are you someone who fears this day of stereotypical doom? Then you have what is defined as, wait for it...paraskavedekatriaphobia! Para what?

Yeah, I know. I'm verbally stumped as well. It is defined as the fear of Friday the 13^th.

Are you looking to start a new life venture? If so, Friday itself has been considered a bad day to do so since the 14^th century. "The Canterbury Tales" story collection and several professions support that theory as well. And if your new life objective falls on the 13^th of a Friday, do the math; apparently it's worse.

In the opinion of many theorists, the reason for Friday the 13^th's bad rap is because of two ancient superstitions: that the number 13 is indeed unlucky and the day Friday wasn't highly regarded either.

For those of you who do believe and are fretting the next Friday of 13, no need to worry; at least not this very minute, day or even a few years. You won't have another until February 2015.

As for the rest of you, well, today is just another day in the big scheme of things.

So here's hoping today goes by without a glitch! But in the words of Yankee great Yogi Berra "It ain't over till it's over."There are two types of people in this world; believers and non-believers. To the superstitious aka the believers, Friday the 13^th marks a day of stress and unexpected troubles.