The Stress
Management Center
and Phobia Institute in Ashville, North
Carolina tells us 17 to 21 million people in the United
States dread Friday the 13th. Many will not
take flights; others take no chances, lock their doors, stay in bed all day and
keep their fingers crossed. A number of buildings do not have a 13th
floor.
A novel written
by Thomas W. Laws and published in 1907 became widely read. Laws titled his
book Friday the 13th. The once
popular book tells a story about a broker who takes advantage of the
superstition to create a Wall Street panic on that risky day. The author’s readers
became much more aware of the superstition and belief in its influence
multiplied.
Centuries before
Laws wrote his novel, hundreds of the Knights Templar were arrested by King
Philip IV...it was Friday, October 13th
1307. The Knights were an order of “Warrior Monks” formed during
the Crusades. Dale Brown’s The DaVinci Code
published in 2003 and Born in Blood: The
Lost Secrets of Freemasonry written in 1989 plus Maurice Druon’s historical
series, The Accursed Kings and Tales of the Knights Templar by
Katharine Kurtz, all refer to that time in history. But there is little
documentation to prove that the superstition was born before the late 19th
century.
“And on a Friday fell all this mischance,” but
traveling on a Friday has been considered unlucky since the 14th
century and is mentioned in The Nun’s and
Priest’s Tale and The Knight’s Tale
two of the stories told in Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales.
Friday the 13th
is not always the day bad luck is expected to arrive. Spanish speaking nations and
Greece opt for
Tuesday the 13th as their unlucky day while the day bad luck holds
sway in Italy
is Friday the 17th.
Today most of us proclaim
ourselves to be superstition free but I know if I spill salt, I use my right
hand to throw a pinch of salt over my left shoulder—that keeps the devil, and
bad luck away—far, far away. I admit I knock on wood for good luck and if there
is no wood around I knock on my own head. Then there is the belief that opening
an umbrella indoors is not a good omen. That apprehension can be traced back to
the early Egyptians who believed it would offend the God of the Sun. Who wants
to offend the God of the Sun? Of course, we all know if we carry an umbrella
with us when rain is forecast—it will not.
It’s not just
polite to say, “God Bless You,” when someone sneezes, it dates back to 590 AD
when Pope Gregory the Great decreed that prayers be said to fight a deadly
plague in Italy.
It’s also considered a positive sign when two people sneeze at the same time or
when your cat sneezes. Don’t worry if that cat is black and crosses your path,
if she comes straight towards you—be of good cheer—your future is bright and
full of promise.
The four-leaf
clover or shamrock is extremely rare and extremely lucky. Anyone who finds a
four-leaf clover will be blessed with prosperity, romance and luck in all
endeavors. Sounds good to me—I intend to comb fields for my four-leaf clover
the minute the winter weather leaves and the clover begins to grow.
Fess up...do you
admit to any superstitions?
