Wednesday, April 11, 2012

What's Up with Friday the 13th?

Show of hands---how many of you are afraid to get out of bed on Friday the 13th?  Because, you know, if you lived in Greece or in a Spanish speaking country, you would more likely be worried about Tuesday the 13th.  But the ancient Chinese, as well as the Egyptians, actually considered the number 13 to be lucky. 

So what’s up with Friday the 13th?  Is it really a day chuck full of bad luck? 

The thing is, the thirteenth day of any month will always fall on a Tuesday if that month began on a Thursday.  And, if a 31-day month contains a Tuesday the 13th, the following month will always contain a Friday the 13th.  But no more than three Friday the 13ths can ever occur in any one year. 

We can always find coincidental connections around numbers and dates if we look hard enough for them. And it's usually more fun to tell scary stories about them than uplifting ones; pluls people tend to remember them (and exaggerate them) more frequently.  Thus, they hang around and continue to grow.

The truth is, according to the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics, there are actually FEWER accidents on Friday the 13th than on other Fridays.  But perhaps that’s just because people were being more careful on those days.

So here’s the point.  No matter what day it is, be careful, be prudent, and pray for the protection of your Guardian Angel every day.  Plus, it never hurts to wear clean underwear when you go somewhere in a car.  At least that’s what my grandmother always said.

Have any favorite superstitions you’d like share?  Send them along, in the comment section below!

4 comments:

  1. Love that you gave us this trivia about the 13th.... it's like the superstition "about a black cat crossing in front of you" or how about "breaking a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck"...We need to remember that each day we wake we should be thankful it's a new day. So Happy Friday the 13th!!!!

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    1. Thanks, Rose! One afternoon THREE black cats crossed in front of my car. And guess what? NOTHING happened!

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  2. Wow, I never knew that. Learn something new everyday!

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    1. Hi, McKenna, thanks for stopping by our blog, and for taking the time to comment. Good luck with your blogging, I'm pretty new at it, too. I've only been blogging a few months. Blessings to you, and all those dear to you, Carolyn

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