Today is Friday the Thirteenth, and you have probably already seen people doing weird things to keep themselves from experiencing the superstitious bad luck that is associated with this day. This fear of the combination of a traditionally unpopular number with arguably the best weekday is deeply rooted in human society. Though most of the significance comes from the Christian faith, the first warning to avoid the thirteenth day of the waxing month comes from a poet in ancient Greece circa 700 B.C. related to the beginning of the planting season. But the superstitions surrounding this day kept developing as time went on. 

  In the Christian faith, the number thirteen is closely associated with Jesus and his twelve disciples with special relevance to the Last Supper. There, Jesus predicts Judas, one of his disciples, will betray him, which eventually comes true. Since Judas was received as the thirteenth guest, this adds to the bad luck of the number. A similar story in Norse mythology has Loki received as the thirteenth guest at a Valhalla dinner party, where chaos ensued. In addition, there was a raid on the Knights Templar on Friday 13, 1307, which essentially wiped them out, adding to the Christian superstition of the day. 

  Although these may be the roots for the superstition, the connection between the unlucky number and Friday was not made until the twentieth century. Thomas Lawson published his book Friday the Thirteenth in 1907 about a stockbroker who chooses this day to deliberately crash the stock market, leading to much panic and chaos. A year later, the New York Times included a piece about a senator who had introduced thirteen bills to the Senate on Friday the Thirteenth, asserting that he beat the odds. By the 1980s, the superstition was cemented into popular culture and led to the beginning of the film franchise Friday the 13th, a series of horror movies with the main character being born on Friday the Thirteenth. 

  Humans have had a bad relationship with the number thirteen for most of recorded human history. Even in Hammurabi’s code, law number thirteen was skipped over. Many cultures associate the number twelve with completeness, and thirteen is one too many, making it unlucky. Even in today’s modern world, some buildings do not have a thirteenth floor. The superstition surrounding the number thirteen for most of human history added to the popularization of the unlucky day by Thomas Lawson, which created a day that is feared by many. Some people even avoid certain activities in an attempt to not push their luck, and as a result, an estimated $700 million in revenue is lost that would otherwise be earned just because of the day. Senior Sophie McLellan said that “because the day is so rooted in superstition, people pay closer attention to the weird things that happen, but if those same things happened on any other day, no one would think twice about it.”

  But all of this is just that, a superstition. Friday the thirteenth is statistically no more unlucky than any other day of the same month. However, if you are not convinced, simply throw some salt over your shoulder at the beginning of the day to reverse any bad luck that might happen to you today, effectively securing good luck for you on this Friday the thirteenth. Senior Sophie McLellan said that in an effort to avoid the bad luck she will “maintain happy vibes today.”