Why Is Friday The 13th Unlucky?

It's another Friday the 13th and all of you super-superstitious types are hiding out at home.  But have you ever wondered why this particular date has the power to freak out so many people?

Seems that friggatriskaidekaphobia — "that’s the ACTUAL name for a fear of Friday the 13th" — was born of a combined fear of Fridays and the number 13 rather than just the date itself.

Some people believe that Friday the 13th is unlucky, because of significant events in Christian tradition said to have taken place on a Friday, such as the Crucifixion, Eve’s offer of that fateful apple to Adam, or the beginning of the Great Flood.

According to the website snopes.com here some things you should NOT do on Friday the 13th!

• Needleworking: “I knew an old lady who, if she had nearly completed a piece of needlework on a Thursday, would put it aside unfinished, and set a few stitches in her next undertaking, that she might not be obliged either to begin the new task on Friday or to remain idle for a day.”   (1883)
• Harvesting:“My father once decided to start harvest on a Friday, and men went out on the Thursday evening, and, unpaid, cut along one side of the first field with their scythes, in order to dodge the malign fates which a Friday start would begin.”   (1933)
• Laying the keel of, or launching, a ship: “Fisherman would have great misgivings about laying the keel of a new boat on Friday, as well as launching one on that day.”   (1885)
• Beginning a sea voyage:“Sailors are many of them superstitious . . . A voyage begun [on a Friday] is sure to be an unfortunate one.”   (1823)
• Beginning a journey:“I knew another poor woman, who . . . made it a rule never to . . . set out on a journey on a Friday.”   (1804)
• Giving birth:“A child born on a Friday is doomed to misfortune.”   (1846)
• Getting married:“As to Friday, a couple married on that day are doomed to a cat-and-dog life.”   (1879)
• Recovering from illness:“If you have been ill, don’t get up for the first time on a Friday.”   (1923)
• Hearing news:“If you hear anything new on a Friday, it gives you another wrinkle on your face, and adds a year to your age.”   (1883)
• Moving:“Don’t move on a Friday, or you won’t stay there very long.”   (1982)
• Starting a new job:“Servants who go into their situations on Friday, never go to stay.”   (1923)