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The history of Friday The 13th

"The Death of Balder," by Danish painter Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, depicts a scene from Norse mythology. Balder (son of Odin) lies dead after being struck by a mistletoe spear thrown by Hödr, his blind brother. Hödr had been tricked by Loki, who can be seen behind him, stifling his laughter.

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Friday the 13th has long been considered a day of bad luck, evil omens, and general misfortune in the Western world. Its influence is so widespread that one of the most well-known horror film franchises is named after the ominous day. From Norse mythology to The Canterbury Tales, let's embark on a brief journey to find out what happened to make this day so terrifying.

THE NUMBER 13

In Magic and Superstitions (1968), the author Douglas Hill recounts a Norse myth about the death of Balder. As 12 of the Norse gods host a dinner party in Valhalla, Loki (the god of mischief, trickery, and deception), who was not invited, arrives as the 13th guest. The gods are entertaining themselves by watching Hödr throw various weapons at Baldr, who is impervious to any injury. Balder's mother, the goddess Frigg, had previously made every weapon and object on Earth swear an oath to never hurt her son, after a prophetic dream in which she foresaw his death. She had, however, left out a small tree, the mistletoe, thinking it too young and unimportant for an oath to be demanded of it. Loki, who knew of this weakness, fashioned a spear from the mistletoe tree and tricked the blind Hödr into throwing it at Balder. To the horror of every god present, except for Loki, the mistletoe spear went right through Balder, killing him.

However, in the Prose Edda (the 13th-century Icelandic text considered the most complete source of our current knowledge on Norse mythology), where the story originally appears, no mention is made of either 12 gods being present or Loki being the 13th to arrive.

There are also similar Christian associations to the number 13: the tale of the Last Supper comes to mind, with Judas being thought by many to have been the 13th person to sit at the table. The Bible, however, does not mention the order in which the apostles sat.

FRIDAY AND MISFORTUNE

Friday is considered to be a day of evil portents and misfortune by some historical sources. In A Dictionary of Superstitions (1996), authors Moria Tatem and Iona Opie say Friday was long considered an unlucky day in which one should not begin journeys or start new projects, as evidenced by lines such as "and on a Friday fell all this misfortune" which are present in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, written during the late 14th century.

Some have argued, however, that the line actually refers to the irony of the misfortune in question having happened to the protagonist - who is called a devotee of the goddess Venus - on a Friday, the day associated with the goddess in medieval astrology.

FRIDAY THE 13TH

Direct association of Friday and the number 13 seem to have popped up in sources around the mid-1800s, such as in the 1834 play Les Finesses des Gribouilles, in which a character states that being "born on a Friday, December 13th", was the source of all their misfortunes. The association is then popularized through the 20th century, possibly starting with the novel Friday, the Thirteenth (1907) by T. W. Lawson, culminating in the creation of one the most popular horror franchises of all time - Jason's hockey mask becoming one of the most recognizable icons in film and pop culture.

- Opie, I., & Tatem, M. (1996). A Dictionary of Superstitions Hill, D. (1968). Magic and Superstitions Household, P. (2013). I seek unlucky Fridays in Chaucer and find none. Things that have interested me. https://peterhousehold.blogspot.com/2013/01/chaucer.html