Do You Fear Friday The 13Th...?

If you do, you aren't alone. This fear, called Triskaidekaphobia has been a problem for a long time!

Many stories and myths surround the origins of the belief that Friday 13Th is an unlucky day, and it's really hard to pin down exactly when the myth started. There are, in fact, so many different origins reported that I couldn't put them all here!

What I did was to choose two that I feel make the most sense, if there is such a thing when it comes to superstitions like this!

Anyway, it makes for some good reading!

The actual origin of the superstition, though, appears also to be a tale in Norse mythology. Friday is named for Frigga, the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil — a gathering of thirteen — and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week. For many centuries in Scandinavia, Friday was known as "Witches' Sabbath."

Another theory about the origin of the superstition traces the event to the arrest of the legendary Knights Templar. According to one expert:

The Knights Templar were a monastic military order founded in Jerusalem in 1118 C.E., whose mission was to protect Christian pilgrims during the Crusades. Over the next two centuries, the Knights Templar became extraordinarily powerful and wealthy. Threatened by that power and eager to acquire their wealth, King Philip secretly ordered the mass arrest of all the Knights Templar in France on Friday, October 13, 1307 - Friday the 13Th.

So there ya go! A little something to think about while we have some coffee on the patio! Don't worry...no bad luck here! Cross my heart!