(Josie
Sayz: So many stories surround Friday 13th. Spooky goings on, hauntings,
servere bad luck. Some people even go as far as to refuse to leave the house
on Friday 13th – but why? Could something bad not happen by
staying indoors? Wouldn’t losing a day’s pay, not getting any fresh air and
living in fear all day be considered bad luck, all because of some irrational
fear?)
Friday the 13th is considered unlucky in some countries, but lucky in others. I find this concept very strange, having been brought up in a country where some people literally fear the number 13. I used to work in a restaurant and the number of customers who refused table number 13 (and would rather wait over half an hour for another table than sit there) was, to me, surprisingly high. Several people a day would refuse to sit at table 13, claiming that it was unlucky, or it would bring them bad luck. My mum works in a supermarket, as a cashier, and her checkout is number 13. When the store is busy, members of staff have often directed customers towards my mum (as she has won awards for her customer service), yet many customers refuse her service and would often prefer to wait in a long queue than use checkout number 13 in fear that it will bring them bad luck. In such a modern day and age, it surprises me so much that people believe in such silly superstitions.
From a young age, I was always led to believe that 13 was unlucky. I was never quite sure why (although I had a feeling that it had something to do with witchcraft or paganism). It wasn’t until I was at university when I first discovered that in some countries, they view Friday 13th as lucky. I recall in my second year at university, my Enlightenment lecture fell on a Friday 13th. Not many people turned up to our lecture and it puzzled my lecturer. Someone joked that we were light on people because it was Friday 13th and some people were probably too scared to leave their house. My lecturer, who was French, seemed puzzled. She told us that where she grew up, everyone would go out and buy a lottery ticket on Friday 13th because it was considered to be the luckiest day of the year and she had never heard of (and did not understand) why it was viewed so negatively in Britain – we couldn’t really explain it to her either. I guess it’s just a case of a silly idea being planted in your brain when you are young that can fester and spread into an irrational fear as one grows older. I believe the term for having a phobia over Friday 13th is: paraskevidekatriaphobia.
Do I believe in Friday 13th? No. I don’t believe in some random spirit forcing good or negative fortunes upon people. However, I do believe that people choose to play/feed upon the negative connotations connected to the date. I think on Friday 13th people purposely look for, and take note of, all of the teeny, tiny instances that go wrong and blame it on the day; however, if today was Friday 12th or 14th they probably wouldn’t take much (if any) notice. For example, as I was leaving work today, I asked one of my colleagues if she had had a good day (in passing), to which she replied that she had not. She said that she hates Friday the 13th and so many bad things had happened to her today and that she was going straight home, to bed, and couldn’t wait for it to be tomorrow. Had today’s date been any other date than the 13th though, I reckon that my colleague would not have been so dramatic, and her day would not have felt as bad. She woke up expecting today to be negative, so she old looked for and took note of all of the negative activity that occurred today.
I feel as though I had a very good day today. I woke up having had the most amazing dream, involving the most special friend that I have even had, even though we currently not talking – I viewed this dream as a pleasant, hopeful, bright light at the end of a dark tunnel. My pet rabbit didn’t wake me up before my alarm went off for the first time in months. At work, I got all of my assignments/projects completed by the end of the day. I saw lots of magpies on the way to work – which is considered good luck in the world of superstition (one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told). I managed to use one of the complicated machines at work, without help, for the first time. I drank more water than normal, which is a big thing for me. I got some good deals at the supermarket, on my way home. I didn’t get wet even though rain was forecast for today. My head feels happy and clear (following from my lovely dream, I have been having happy and positive thoughts about this special friend all day). The more I think about my day, yes, a few bad things did happen – I forgot my ice cube tray so with the temperature being rather hot at the moment, my water was warm, and I hate drinking warm water. The pasta that I had for lunch had gone off. A couple of things during my time a work occurred, preventing me from getting things finished sooner. My rabbit’s dinner had gone soggy in the fridge and he refused to eat it, so I had to go back out and buy him something else and I was running late this morning and forgot to wear my waterproofs shoes (despite seeing the weather forecast predict rain). Yes, a list of negative things happened during my day, but up until I forced myself to think of them just now, I never would have considered today to have been an unlucky day. I think that it just depends on what mind set you follow through the day with. If you begin your day with a negative frame of mind, of course you are going to remember every single negative thing in much detail. Yes, one big, bad thing could happen, but it could also have occurred yesterday, and you wouldn’t go around blaming it on Thursday 12th now, would you?
I hope that you had a good day, whether you believe in Friday the 13th or not.
Friday the 13th is considered unlucky in some countries, but lucky in others. I find this concept very strange, having been brought up in a country where some people literally fear the number 13. I used to work in a restaurant and the number of customers who refused table number 13 (and would rather wait over half an hour for another table than sit there) was, to me, surprisingly high. Several people a day would refuse to sit at table 13, claiming that it was unlucky, or it would bring them bad luck. My mum works in a supermarket, as a cashier, and her checkout is number 13. When the store is busy, members of staff have often directed customers towards my mum (as she has won awards for her customer service), yet many customers refuse her service and would often prefer to wait in a long queue than use checkout number 13 in fear that it will bring them bad luck. In such a modern day and age, it surprises me so much that people believe in such silly superstitions.
From a young age, I was always led to believe that 13 was unlucky. I was never quite sure why (although I had a feeling that it had something to do with witchcraft or paganism). It wasn’t until I was at university when I first discovered that in some countries, they view Friday 13th as lucky. I recall in my second year at university, my Enlightenment lecture fell on a Friday 13th. Not many people turned up to our lecture and it puzzled my lecturer. Someone joked that we were light on people because it was Friday 13th and some people were probably too scared to leave their house. My lecturer, who was French, seemed puzzled. She told us that where she grew up, everyone would go out and buy a lottery ticket on Friday 13th because it was considered to be the luckiest day of the year and she had never heard of (and did not understand) why it was viewed so negatively in Britain – we couldn’t really explain it to her either. I guess it’s just a case of a silly idea being planted in your brain when you are young that can fester and spread into an irrational fear as one grows older. I believe the term for having a phobia over Friday 13th is: paraskevidekatriaphobia.
Do I believe in Friday 13th? No. I don’t believe in some random spirit forcing good or negative fortunes upon people. However, I do believe that people choose to play/feed upon the negative connotations connected to the date. I think on Friday 13th people purposely look for, and take note of, all of the teeny, tiny instances that go wrong and blame it on the day; however, if today was Friday 12th or 14th they probably wouldn’t take much (if any) notice. For example, as I was leaving work today, I asked one of my colleagues if she had had a good day (in passing), to which she replied that she had not. She said that she hates Friday the 13th and so many bad things had happened to her today and that she was going straight home, to bed, and couldn’t wait for it to be tomorrow. Had today’s date been any other date than the 13th though, I reckon that my colleague would not have been so dramatic, and her day would not have felt as bad. She woke up expecting today to be negative, so she old looked for and took note of all of the negative activity that occurred today.
I feel as though I had a very good day today. I woke up having had the most amazing dream, involving the most special friend that I have even had, even though we currently not talking – I viewed this dream as a pleasant, hopeful, bright light at the end of a dark tunnel. My pet rabbit didn’t wake me up before my alarm went off for the first time in months. At work, I got all of my assignments/projects completed by the end of the day. I saw lots of magpies on the way to work – which is considered good luck in the world of superstition (one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told). I managed to use one of the complicated machines at work, without help, for the first time. I drank more water than normal, which is a big thing for me. I got some good deals at the supermarket, on my way home. I didn’t get wet even though rain was forecast for today. My head feels happy and clear (following from my lovely dream, I have been having happy and positive thoughts about this special friend all day). The more I think about my day, yes, a few bad things did happen – I forgot my ice cube tray so with the temperature being rather hot at the moment, my water was warm, and I hate drinking warm water. The pasta that I had for lunch had gone off. A couple of things during my time a work occurred, preventing me from getting things finished sooner. My rabbit’s dinner had gone soggy in the fridge and he refused to eat it, so I had to go back out and buy him something else and I was running late this morning and forgot to wear my waterproofs shoes (despite seeing the weather forecast predict rain). Yes, a list of negative things happened during my day, but up until I forced myself to think of them just now, I never would have considered today to have been an unlucky day. I think that it just depends on what mind set you follow through the day with. If you begin your day with a negative frame of mind, of course you are going to remember every single negative thing in much detail. Yes, one big, bad thing could happen, but it could also have occurred yesterday, and you wouldn’t go around blaming it on Thursday 12th now, would you?
I hope that you had a good day, whether you believe in Friday the 13th or not.
- Josie -
