Why Friday the 13th is the Unluckiest Day of the Year

Abbas: Temple Mount "100% Islamic"



Isaiah 40:2

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

Abbas: Temple Mount '100% Islamic'
Warning: 'Any action that offends holy site will be answered by 1.5 billion Muslims'




Abbas: Temple Mount "100% Islamic"



Isaiah 40:2

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

Abbas: Temple Mount '100% Islamic'
Warning: 'Any action that offends holy site will be answered by 1.5 billion Muslims'

Why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky? Personally, nothing bad has ever happened on Friday the 13th--that I recall.

But maybe, Friday the 13th induces amnesia!

A random and sundry collection of information on the (supposedly) unluckiest of days: Friday the 13th.


* Friday the 13th is considered a day of bad luck in English-, French- and Portuguese-speaking countries around the world, as well as in Austria, Germany, Estonia, Finland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, and the Philippines.

* Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13.

* Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th.

* "Friday 13th is unlucky for some. The risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52 percent. Staying at home is recommended."
--Findings of a 1993 study published in the British Medical Journal, "Is Friday the 13th Bad for Your Health?"

* If 13 people sit down to dinner together, all will die within the year. The Turks so disliked the number 13 that it was practically expunged from their vocabulary (Brewer, 1894). Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue. Many buildings don't have a 13th floor. If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck (Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names). There are 13 witches in a coven.
--According to various legends; from Urban Legends.about.com



* Many Christians have long believed that Friday was unlucky because it was the day of the week when Jesus was crucified. The number 13 was believed to bring bad luck because there were 13 people at The Last Supper. Since there were 12 tribes of Israel, that number was considered lucky.

* "Does anybody believe that Friday the 13th is necessarily a bad luck day anymore? Get over it. Superstitions make great copy and distill fear, the key element in our reality upon which most storylines are based."
--Friday the 13th

* After 13 years of being the richest man in the world, Microsoft Corporation chairman Bill Gates lost this title, according to Forbes magazine's 2008 list of the world's billionaires.

* Never change your bed on Friday; it will bring bad dreams. Don't start a trip on Friday or you will have misfortune. If you cut your nails on Friday, you cut them for sorrow. Ships that set sail on a Friday will have bad luck – as in the tale of H.M.S. Friday ... One hundred years ago, the British government sought to quell once and for all the widespread superstition among seamen that setting sail on Fridays was unlucky. A special ship was commissioned, named "H.M.S. Friday." They laid her keel on a Friday, launched her on a Friday, selected her crew on a Friday and hired a man named Jim Friday to be her captain. To top it off, H.M.S. Friday embarked on her maiden voyage on a Friday, and was never seen or heard from again.
--According to various legends; from Urban Legends.about.com

* The first recorded incident relating to Friday the 13th refers to the massacre of the Knights Templar on Friday October 13, 1307. The forces of Philip IV of France were instructed to open letters that morning, giving them orders to seek out and arrest all known members of the Knights, slaughter those that resisted, and capture Jacques DeMolay, the last known Grand Master of the Knights Templar.

After checking the calendar, all of the bad events in my life (blessedly, only a few) did not take place on Friday--or even on the 13th. But, like Scarlett O'Hara says, "Tomorrow's Friday the 13th is another day".

Or something like that.

If all of this doesn't get you started down the road to a good Friday the 13th bender, what will?

compiled by Mondoreb the 13th
Sources:
* Friday the 13th
* Why Friday the 13th is Unlucky
* Friday the 13th
* Friday the 13th
* Friday the 13th
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Christmas Eve Traditions

Traditions, superstitions and rituals about the Night Before Christmas

There are many Christmas Eve traditions.

Some people drink egg nog, some let their kids open a Christmas present early, some read to the children, some go to midnight mass or other church services.

There are also many superstitions concerning Christmas Eve, some of them centuries old.

DBKP has collected a host of Christmas Eve traditions from throughout the Internet and the world.

CHRISTMAS EVE IS FOR LOVERS

Some couples have a tradition to kiss under the mistletoe on Christmas Eve. With, others it's more than one kiss.

Many couples spend Christmas Eve listening to Christmas carols and remembering Christmas Eves past.

Couples with children tick items off lists to make sure Santa didn't forget anything.

SOMETHING OLD

The ritual of Midnight Mass date back centuries. But midnight Masses are rare these days, largely because of the shortage of priests in the Roman Catholic Church,

SOMETHING NEW

Want to ski and celebrate Christmas with a church service at Crystal Mountain, near Tacoma, Washington?

Around 1977, the Rev. Ken Christopherson started a Christmas Eve service at the Crystal Mountain Ski Chapel.

CHRISTMAS EVE MEALS

Many Christmas Eve meals in America traditionally are ham or fowl. Because of the big meal planned for the holiday, some families like to keep the meal light and serve soup and crackers. By and large, most have the good ole sausage and cheese on hand for tasty snacks and appetizers.

TRIMMING THE TREE

Many families used to put up their tree and trim it on Christmas Eve. Now, most families have their tree up before Christmas Eve, to enjoy its look.

READING "THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS"

It is customary to read children some Christmas stories to complete their evening. The classic "The Night Before Christmas" is by far, the most popular short story of all. Reading stories in front of the fireplace with some hot chocolate will get the kids settled down and ready for bed.

LEAVING A SNACK FOR SANTA * The tradition of setting out cookies for the bearded gift-giver's much-anticipated arrival down the chimneyon Christmas Eve has grown legs across the globe. But there are mixed reports about where or when it started. * Santa himself explains at www.santaclaus.com that the tradition of leaving out cookies and milk came from western Germany, where people would decorate trees with apples, wafers and cookies. When the treats started disappearing off the tree, children assumed Santa was taking the snacks, prompting them to start leaving out cookies so he'd stop stealing the decorations. * Some children leave hay and carrots in shoes for Santa's reindeer, according to Christmas historians. * Another belief behind the cookies-and-milk custom is "the more cookies, the more presents." And, along those lines, some people think "naughty" children leave cookies as a last-minute bribe, while "good" kids leave treats to show appreciation. * Irish children leave mince pie and a bottle of beer for Santa. * Denmark kids leave rice pudding and saucers of milk for the elves. * American children started leaving cookies and milk for Santa during the Great Depression because parents wanted to encourage sharing in hard times.

CHRISMAS EVE SUPERSTITIONS

* Some also believe that those who are born on Christmas Eve turn into ghosts on that day every year while they sleep. If you were born on Christmas Eve and don't want to have this happen to you, the remedy is to count the holes in a sieve from 11 o'clock on Christmas Eve until morning.

* Myrrh save their blossoming for Christmas Eve - often for only an hour.

* Hay carried around a church three times on Christmas Eve was said to ensure that cattle would fatten easier on less feed in the year to come.

* Christmas Eve is when animals behave oddly, too: cattle, donkeys, and oxen are said to fall on their knees and moan at midnight.

* If you can find a kneeling donkey on Christmas Eve, and make the sign of the cross on its back, you will get your heart's desire.

* Cattle, donkeys, and oxen, as well as the other animals, are also given the gift of speech on Christmas Eve.

* On Christmas Eve, you can hear the bells of lost churches that have been flooded or buried by landslides and earthquakes.

* On Christmas Eve it is unlucky to spin or sew, to grind grain, or to leave the dishes unwashed.

* To predict the next year's harvest, count the stars on Christmas Eve, and there will be as many sheaves as you have counted stars.

* Looking into a well on Christmas Eve will show the destined husband.

* Throwing a ball of yarn in the air at midnight on Christmas Eve will determine the look of your future husband; the arrangement of the yarn on the ground will look like the future husband's face.

That's our round-up of Christmas Eve traditions. Do you have any?

It's never too late to start one.

Merry Christmas!

Compiled by Mondoreb
[image:
Sources:
* Season of Superstition
* Holiday Traditions: Why the Santa Snacks?
* The Old Ways still hold sway in the South Sound
* Christmas Eve Traditions and Ideas



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