Things you might not know about Friday 13th

If you didn’t know already, today is Friday 13th. With this in mind, this week’s blog brings you some facts you might not know about Friday 13th.

Fear – There is actually a specific fear for being scared of Friday 13th. This fear is known as “paraskevidekatriaphobia” or “friggatriskaidekaphobia”. There are also millions of people in the world that have a fear of the number 13. This fear is called “triskaidekaphobia’. A bit of trivia for your next pub quiz!

Dodgy number – There are a few reasons why 13 is seen a dodgy number, this is mostly down to the fact that the number 12 includes so many different uses. So… there are 12 hours on a clock, 12 months in a year, 12 days of Christmas, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 Gods of Olympus and even 12 zodiac signs. The fact that all of these things stop at 12 could leave many people to believe that there is something wrong with the number 13!

Wedding – Did you know that you can have special Friday 13th wedding ceremonies in Las Vegas? Themes include zombie, gothic and vampire. Not for the faint-hearted couples…

Space – The clever people at NASA have predicted that a large asteroid called 2004 MN4 will pass by the Earth April 13th (Friday) 2029. Now this asteroid will only be visible to Earth, it won’t hit us but if there was ever a day for it to happen… It will always happen – There will always be a Friday 13th at least once a year but did you know that there can be as many as three per year. Not good news if you suffer from “paraskevidekatriaphobia” or “friggatriskaidekaphobia”.

Movie inspiration – The idea of Friday 13th helped to create the highly successful Friday the 13th movie franchise. This franchise included 12 horror films, a TV series, books and comics. The hockey mask used in this franchise is one of the most recognizable horror images in today’s pop culture.

Different cultures – Friday 13th isn’t feared in every culture. There are cultures that fear other dates… This includes Tuesday 13th in Spanish and Greek cultures and Friday 17th in Italian culture.