Members of the Eccentric Club of London at their annual Friday the 13th lunch in 1936 – surrounded by objects that are connected with superstitions.

Friday the 13th has never bothered me in fact my own parents were married on a Friday the thirteenth, but they liked to break with tradition as a rule.

Whilst the day and/or number has never troubled me personally, it does cause some real issues for certain people suffering paraskevidekatriaphobia (say that three times fast) or a morbid, and irrational fear of Friday the 13th, as coined by Dr. Donald Dossey. According to a 2000 survey conducted by American Demographics 13% of Americans suffer this fear. Interesting coincidence with that number 13, and I sincerely hope that you gentle readers are not afflicted with this.

The history of where this fear originated seems lost within the mists of time itself, but here are a few theories put forward by others:

Christ is thought to have been crucified on a Friday, which was execution day among the Romans. Friday's were also traditionally execution day in Britain. The number 13 ties in as it was believed to bring bad luck because there were 13 people at The Last Supper.

People have suggested that Friday was the day God threw Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden, which would be a lucky guess as the concept of Friday hadn't been invented yet.

Thirteen is an unlucky or bad number in Norse mythology as well. Loki, the most mischievous of the Norse gods, went uninvited to a party for 12 at Valhalla, a banquet hall of the gods. And whilst there he caused the death of Balder, the god of light, joy, and reconciliation.

On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templars and sixty of his senior knights in Paris. Thousands of others were arrested elsewhere in the country. After utilising torture techniques to force the Templars to "confess" to wrongdoing, most were eventually executed and sympathizers of the Templars condemned Friday the 13th as an evil day.

Chaucer alluded to Friday as a day on which bad things seemed to happen in the Canterbury Tales during the late 14th century, "And on a Friday fell all this mischance." Perhaps with the plight of the Templars in mind?

In my opinion it was probably a combination of all of the above, and much more that led to the superstition, and belief that Friday the 13th is somehow an unlucky day.

How do you feel about Friday the 13th? Will you be doing anything different today because of it? Or do you believe it to be a silly superstition only?

Further Reading:

A World Of Luck - Friday The 13th

Friday the 13th - Unlucky No. 13 combines Christian and pagan beliefs

Image credit: Getty Images