Friday the 13th

This coming Friday is the 13th day of the month of April, and for those who are superstitious, it usually means being extra cautious and as much as possible avoiding activities which may be dangerous.

Although the number 13 has long been held as an unlucky number (a lot of buildings don’t have a 13th floor), it is still widely debated as to why Friday the 13th was considered unlucky day. The most common beliefs are:

• A lot of bad events in the Bible happened on a Friday – Jesus’ crucufixion and death, Adam & Eve eating the forbidden fruit, Cain killing Abel. Some people even assert that the Great Flood started on a Friday.
• It was Friday, October 13, 1307, when King Philip IV had many Templars arrested and executed (as mentioned in Dan Brown’s novel Da Vinci Code).
• In Britain, as well as in Ancient Rome, Friday was known as "Hangman's Day" because that was when those condemned would be executed by being hanged. Tradition says that there were thirteen steps to the platform from where one would be publicly hanged.

Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they are simply unable to get out of bed when Friday the 13th rolls around. The clinical term for this is "paraskavedekatriaphobia"

It is actually very common occurrence for the 13th day to fall on a Friday. In fact, every year has at least one and at most three Fridays the 13th, with 48 occurences in 28 years –or an average of 1.7 times per year.

Random Odds & Ends

• In spite of handling massive amounts of funds, the Knights Templar were scrupulously honest. Any type of fraud or theft is punishable by death.
  
• On Easter in 1722, Admiral Roggeveen discovered an island filled with huge, mysterious stone heads. He named it Easter Island.
• The Easter bunny as we know it originated in Germany in the 1500s.
  
• Hindus do not eat eggs because they believe them to be a valuable source of life.
• The name Easter owes its origin from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolizes hare and egg.