Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year.
This feast day commemorates the massacre of the baby boys which King Herod ordered in Bethlehem, in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus Christ. The innocent babies were seen by the Catholic Church as the very first martyrs.
Greeks dislike Tuesday because their word for the day is Triti, which also means “third”—and bad luck comes in threes. The culture's dislike of the number 13—and Tuesdays—stems from the fall of Constantinople, which apparently took place on Tuesday the 13th.
Perhaps part of the answer lies in a seminal paper published in 1956 by the psychologist George A Miller called “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two”. Miller claims that it is more than just coincidence that the number 7 seems to be all around us.
11: Lucky 12
Just as 13 is considered one of the unluckiest of all numbers, 12 is considered the rare lucky number that happens to also be even. The origins of this superstition are sketchy, but some sources suggest that 12 gained its lucky rep simply because it's so nicely divisible.
It is Tuesday the 13th that is considered unlucky in Spain, and not Friday the 13th as in Anglo-Saxon countries. That's because Tuesday is said to be dominated by Ares, the Greek god of war — known as Mars in Ancient Rome — who gives his name to martes, Tuesday in Spanish.
While for hundreds of years Friday has been considered the unluckiest day of the week, there is one Friday a year which is thought to be very lucky: and that is Good Friday. The day of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, is thought to be the only Friday that isn't unlucky, thus its positive name.
It wasn't until the 19th century, however, that Friday 13th became synonymous with misfortune: As Steve Roud explains in “The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland,” the combination of Friday and the number 13 is a Victorian invention.
It's considered bad luck to light a fresh fire during the twelve days of Christmas. Two tree-tips: don't throw green holly leaves on the fire or cut down an oak tree that has mistletoe growing on it. On New Year's Day it's considered bad luck if the first visitor at your house has red hair.
Why Is December Not the Tenth Month? The meaning of December stems from the Latin word decem, meaning ten. The old Roman calendar started in March, making December the tenth month. When the Roman senate changed the calendar in 153 BCE, the new year started in January, and December became the twelfth month.
Holy Innocents Day, observed annually on December 28th. The day commemorates the execution of the innocent, male children in Bethlehem as told in Matthew 2:16.
A study done in the U.K. showed that May is the luckiest month to be born, and October is the unluckiest.
The number 13 is considered an unlucky number in some countries. The end of the Mayan calendar's 13th Baktun was superstitiously feared as a harbinger of the apocalyptic 2012 phenomenon. Fear of the number 13 has a specifically recognized phobia, triskaidekaphobia, a word first recorded in 1911.
There are many reasons someone may feel like they've lost control of their life. This feeling may be attributed to the loss of a job, financial strain, the end of a relationship, the loss of a loved one, illness, untreated mental health conditions, and numerous other difficulties.
In the Western Christian tradition, the hour between 3:00 am and 4:00 am was considered a period of peak supernatural activity—this time is also referred to as the "Devil's hour" due to it being a mocking inversion of the time in which Jesus supposedly died, which was at 3:00 pm.
While in Mandarin-speaking regions in China, 14 and 74 are considered more unlucky than the individual 4, because 14 (十四, pinyin: shí sì) sounds like "is dead" (是死, pinyin: shì sǐ) and because in some forms of the language, 1 is pronounced (yao) which sounds like (yào 要), which means will be, when combined, it sounds ...
U.S. Unlucky Day is celebrated on December 31 every year. It is a day for you to turn your bad luck into luck by forgetting about your misfortunes.
But the number four is considered unlucky because it sounds a lot like the word for “death,” and as a result Chinese buildings often lack a fourth floor (just as American buildings sometimes skip the 13th). Likewise, Chinese drivers avoid license plates ending in four.
The number 7 is often considered lucky, and it has a definite mystique, perhaps because it is a prime number—that is, it cannot be obtained by multiplying two smaller numbers together.
Number 13 in numerology portrays focus, independence, creativity and a secure foundation. It is misjudged to be unlucky as it also depicts karma and tests of life. So if you are not a believer of karma, number 13 might seem to be unlucky for you as it will make your bad karma come back to you in full circle.
The number 23 is associated with change, progress, and innovation – all of which can be seen as positive things. If you are seeing this number frequently, it may be a sign that you should embrace these qualities and make some positive changes in your life.
The number 13 may be associated with some famous but undesirable dinner guests. In Norse mythology, the god Loki was 13th to arrive at a feast in Valhalla, where he tricked another attendee into killing the god Baldur. In Christianity, Judas — the apostle who betrayed Jesus — was the 13th guest at the Last Supper.