Little Coloured Bricks

Yes it’s Friday the 13^th folks and lots of people are scared –children in particular are scared of Friday the 13^th.

Although the Friday the 13^th movie franchise has added to the scare, it is said that this occurrence in the Gregorian calendar brings in bad luck. Some say the contrary though but we shall deal with that later.

There is no evidence of written folklore about Friday the 13^th before the 1800s but there are many theories as to why it got stuck in our culture. The first explanation is that Friday is an unlucky day (we do not know the reason why) and the number 13 is an unlucky number. But two negatives make a positive right? Just our luck, math does not apply in folklore.

There is also another theory that if you seat 13 people in one table, one of the people in that table will die. This was probably based on the Last Supper.  To top it off, in Christian tradition, Jesus was nailed on the cross on a Friday. In the Canterbury Tales, Friday is regarded as an unlucky day to start new projects.

When the stock market crashed for the first time, it was on a Friday –hence the term Black Friday. Black Friday today is now one of the best days to go shopping in the United States because of the many discounts that they get.

It is however interesting to note that Friday is called the Witches’ Sabbath. This is of course based on Norse mythology and in the story of the goddess Frigga who was banished to the mountains when Christianity came. According to the story, Frigga meets with 11 witches and the devil every Friday.

One has to remember however that this depends on the culture because in South Korea for example –the number 4 is an unlucky number. When you are on an elevator, the number 4 is not written as a number but rather as the letter F –to prevent any mishaps.