By battlefordsNOW

If you believe in bad luck, you believe in Friday the thirteenth

Jul 14, 2018 | 6:00 PM

Today might not be one of those days you decide to buy a lottery ticket.

It’s Friday the thirteenth, and everyone knows that it generally brings bad luck. But historically, it’s been traced back to generally the historical event of King Philip IV of France arresting hundreds of Kights Templat on Friday, October 13 1307.

Another connection most people make is the film franchise, “Friday the 13th“, comprised of twelve slasher films, a television show, novels, comic books, video games and another tie-in franchise. But the real question is, is if Friday the thirteenth is actually unlucky?

Q, The Rock and CJNB radio personality Samara doesn’t seem to think so, and she told battlefordsNOW what she does on the day.

“I mean, I like to tease people, and be all like, ooh, it’s Friday the thirteenth,” she said. “But I mean, I don’t change anything. People actually believe that the thirteenth is lucky, so I don’t watch myself. But if I did see a black cat on Friday the thirteenth I would probably be like oh, but I don’t actually believe it.”

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Samara also doesn’t believe in superstition, and she has her reasons.

“No, because I don’t think that it benefits you in any way to be superstitious,” she said. “I think it’s a very old way of thinking. A black cat doesn’t mean bad luck, breaking a mirror isn’t going to do anything to you. I’ve never found myself to be unlucky because of any of those things.”

Although Samara may not be afraid of Friday the thirteenth, there are many people who are. The fear is called paraskevidekatriaphobia. Many people are fearful of the date, and that’s linked to Christianity. They consider the day unlucky because it’s associated with cruxifiction. The idea behind that is Judas, who betrayed Christ was the thirteenth guest at the Last Supper. In Roman Culture, witches are to believed to gather in groups of twelve, with the thirteenth being the “Devil” itself.

The actual number thirteen is also synonymous with bad luck. It’s considered unlucky for common practices such as having thirteen guests at a dinner party, many buildings not having a thirteenth floor, and most people will avoid getting married, or making major purchases on a day marked by the number thirteen.

Regardless of whether you are superstitious or not, or change your day at all during Friday the thirteenth, if anything spooky happens today, it will be in the back of your mind.

brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangCJNB