If you spent today hiding in your house, worried that the Boogeyman is going to get you, you might.
What is friggatriskaidekaphobia? It's the fear of Friday the 13th. And everytime one rolls around on the calendar, lots of folks clam up until they can flip to Saturday the 14th.
Where did fear come from? Now that's up for debate. The number 13 has always been seen as unlucky. There were 12 Olympian gods in Greek Mythology. Hestia, goddess of the hearth, stepped down and gave Dionysus, god of wine, her seat so there wouldn't be an unlucky number of gods. Jesus had 12 disciples. Twelve tribes of Israel, twelve hours in the day, twelve hours in the night, twelve months in the year (I could go on) so taking it that one step further to 13 has always been considered unlucky.
Where does the Friday part come in? In the big word for the phobia, "Frigga" is the queen of the gods in Norse mythology and Friday is named after her. She was definitely imposing but not necessarily phobia inducing.
Although there are a lot of reasons posed for the Friday the 13th fear, I think that the real reason came about because of an incident in 1307. The Knights Templar, a Christian religious order that protected pilgrims to the Holy Land during the Crusades, had gotten a little too powerful during their nearly 2 century history. By the date in question, the Templars had established a vast fortune and their own banking industry that loaned money to most of the crowned heads of Europe. What if you borrowed money from a religious group and couldn't pay it back? (Isn't that like defaulting on a loan from God?)
King Philip IV of France owed them so much money that he needed to come up with a crafty little plan to rid himself of his debt and if this plan broke the power of the Templars, then so be it. Philip sent out sealed missives to loyal men all across his lands with orders not to open or act on them until Friday, October 13, 1307. When the appointed day arrived and the loyal retainers opened their envelopes, they found orders to round up all the Templar Knights and charge them with heinous crimes such as homosexuality, urinating on church altars and spitting on the cross. Knights were rounded up, tortured and found guilty of heresy, a crime punishable by death. The Templar grand master's last words were curses on King Philip and the Pope, saying both would die by the end of the year... and they did! From that point on, Friday the 13th has been seen as a very unlucky day, a day in which you should watch your back and honor all superstitions, regardless of how ridiculous they seem.
Guess it's time for me to get off of here now and make sure that no black cats cross my path and to make sure I don't break any mirrors!
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