Friday the 13th
I don’t understand what the big deal is about Friday the 13th. It’s still a Friday, isn’t it? Monday the 13th would have been much scarier.
It’s easy for me to make fun of it because I’m not superstitious. I didn’t even know it was an ominous day until I heard it on the radio this morning.
My experience of the ‘scary’ day
Nothing too weird has ever happened to me on a Friday the 13th. I think the weirdest thing that happened was in 2015 when I was working in admin at the university in town. That morning the whole university’s network went down, even the phone lines died. You may think that’s very strange, but here in sunny South Africa the water and power go off sporadically, so this one wasn’t such a doozy.
The whole situation that morning was by no means unlucky for me, I got paid to just sit there and read a book. I don’t know about you, but that’s kind of the dream for me.
Other people are terrified
There are people who are petrified of this day and just want to stay in bed all day long. I did a bit of research and read that the US and UK lose millions every Friday the 13th because a lot of employees are too scared to come to work, and a lot of customers are also too afraid to leave the house.1
Not only that, but there are also people who are afraid of the number 13. There are hotels and other office buildings that don’t have a 13th floor, they go from 12 to 14. Then there are airlines that don’t have a row 13 on their planes. Some hospitals don’t have any Room 13s.1
Where does it come from?
There are all these superstitions and beliefs surrounding Friday the 13th, but no one is even sure when or where they originated. Some speculate that it has something to do with Jesus being crucified on a Friday and had 13 guests at the last supper. In 1907 the novelist Thomas W Lawson published the novel Friday, the Thirteenth, which could have fired on the superstitions.1
My advice
Personally, I think good and bad things can happen on any day of the year. On this particular day, something good did happen – it’s my brother’s birthday, and that means cake. How can I be afraid of a day that promises cake (sometimes)?
So, go out and walk under ladders, step on cracks in the pavement, befriend a black cat, and go buy a lottery ticket (there needs to be room for good luck too).
If you want to be afraid of something, be afraid of Covid-19 (and remember to wash your hands).
Michelle
P.S. If you’d like to contact me, feel free to comment below, send an email to thatmichelleperson@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter @M_ClutterBox.
I used this source:
1 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th
