Friday the 13th in history and fiction
Though
folklorists claim there is no written evidence for the superstition before the
nineteenth century, the date has long been connected to notorious events in
history and religion.
According
to Catholic belief, one of the most significant events in their religion - the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ - took place on Friday the 13th.
Geoffrey
Chaucer also made reference to the apparent unluckiness of the day, recording
in his Canterbury Tales that it was bad luck to start a journey or a project on
a Friday.
One of
the most popularized myths attempting to explain the origin of the Friday 13
superstition stems from events on Friday 13 October 1307, when hundreds of
Knights Templar were arrested and burnt across France.
This
myth caught the public’s attention after it was used by Dan Brown, among other
historical fiction writers, and has been peddled endlessly by conspiracy
theorists linking the Knights Templar to everything from Freemasonry to the
Holy Grail.
Unlucky 13?
The
origins of Triskaidekaphobia – the fear of the number 13 – could be traced back
to the 19th century belief that Judas Iscariot sat in the 13th place at Jesus’s
table at the Last Supper.
Along
with Jesus, there were 12 disciples at this meal, and Judas has come to
represent betrayal and bad luck in Western societies. Even if there is no
direct biblical evidence linking Judas to the 13th place at the table, the
number of guests at the Last Supper and its significance in the Christian
religion could have been enough to cement the idea of 13 as an unlucky number
in Western cultures, particularly if this idea was promoted by the
superstitious Victorians.
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