Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th has been a significant date for me for many years now. There are many myths and folklore about Friday the 13th being lucky or unlucky.
On Friday the 13th February 2004, I won a MG car under a bottle top.
It’s true – Schweppes had a contest and the MG was being introduced back into Australia, the winning prize was a MG.
The following month I fell and broke my arm however I consider the win worth the broken arm. I sold the car, bought a house and have an asset that would only grow over the years. If I had driven the car out of the car lot, it would have lost at least $1000 in value and where I lived at that time I didn’t even have a garage.
Friday the 13th – November 2009.
On Friday the 13th November 2009, I had been very sick for 3 days and was still quite ill. I had a lightning strike that night, lost all power and I had to reset the surge protector in the pouring rain. My modem got fried, my phone wouldn’t work and the next day the new modem I bought wouldn’t start. I got my phone working again but I had limited internet access most of the weekend.
If this follows the trend I had in the past something good should happen in a month or so. Let’s see if it does.
There is a lot of information available about Friday the 13th. The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia. There are several theories as to what started people being fearful of Friday the 13th. They include:
- Frigga the Norse goddess of love being declared a witch when Christianity became dominant and meeting with the devil and 11 other witches on the day named after her (Friday).
- The Knights Templar mass arrested on this day by order of King Philip of France.
- King Harold in 1066 deciding to go to battle on Friday the 13th instead of resting his troops and then dying at the Battle of Hastings
There are some claims that fear of Friday the 13th is only a 20th Century invention.
Some of the things that happened on Friday the 13th or Black Friday as it’s also known:
- Wall Street Stock Market crash of 1929
- The Black Friday Bush Fires of 1939 in Victoria NSW – the worst natural disaster in Australia
- Andes Plane Crash of 1972
- Hurricane Charley made landfall in south Florida on Friday, August 13, 2004.
- The asteroid 2004 MN4 will make its close encounter on Friday, April 13, 2029.
Do you have a good or bad luck story for Friday the 13th?
