This past Friday, I kept hearing complaints about the date and how awful it would be. “Friday the 13^th!” people wailed. “I know it’s going to be a bad day. I should just stay home!”

Really? I don’t put much stock into Friday the 13^th. People who know me often wonder why, since I’m a “mystical woo woo woman” or whatever joke they like to use to describe my use of sage bundles, crystals on our windows, and mandalas. Me, I say I’m a pagan, even though—as loose as that term is—that doesn’t really fit altogether, either. Do we really need these labels?

Anyway, the reason I’m not superstitious about Friday the 13^th is that there is pretty much no reason to be. There’s much more reason to be suspicious of, say, Egyptian Days. The roots of Friday the 13^th are pretty sketchy and, like so many other concepts of early paganism and non-Christian cultures, seem to have been warped to simply cast out people who were different along with their beliefs.

The number 13 is said to have been made unlucky by the Christians (though other religions may find it unlucky as well). Some say it’s because of significant events taking place on the 13^th, or because of Judas being the 13^th person to sit down during the Last Supper. Of course, the number 13 was actually considered to be very lucky by pagans, which means that it’s very possible that the number was made “unlucky” by Christians who absorbed pagan culture into their own to try and spread their religion instead, as was done with holidays such as Christmas and Easter. This was a common practice that occurred when one culture or religion clashed with another and took over (remember how the Romans “borrowed” Greek gods? How cool would it be if the Vatican paid homage to Jupiter and Juno today instead, by the way?).

The date itself seems to have originated in the 19^th century, making it a pretty modern construct. It was remarked in the biography of Gioachino Rossini, written in 1869, that Italians think that Fridays are unlucky, and that the number 13 is unlucky, too—making the date super dupe unlucky! Of course, a different day of the week is considered unlucky in different regions of the world. My Spanish teacher, from Puerto Rico, would always say that martes trece (Tuesday the 13^th) was the unlucky day, while Wednesday is considered to be unlucky in Islam. Mondays, Saturdays, and Sundays are unlucky in various religions and countries as well.   

While it’s true that bad things can happen on Friday the 13^th—we ate at a really crappy restaurant this Friday, for example—really good things can happen, too. Like any other day, I think it really boils down to the power of the mind over the power of the actual day itself. If you think bad things are going to happen, they probably will.