Today is Friday the 13th. I and most people of my generation probably doesn't think of black cats, broken mirrors or bad luck but of Jason Voorhees. The poor disfigured kid who was bullied by the elder kids and drowned at Camp Crystal Lake when the counselors sneaked off to have sex instead of doing their job. Only he didn't drown but returned as one of the iconic killing machines of the slasher film era. Those of us who have seen more than just one or two of the films in the franchise (and those younger than us, who has seen the Scream movies) knows that Jason wasn't the killer in Friday the 13th even if he made up for it in the sequels.
Some claim the superstition about bad luck and lurking evils on this day goes back to the middle ages, when both Fridays and the number 13 were considered unlucky. There were 13 diners at the last supper before Jesus was crucified, and he was crucified on a Friday. But even so, the first known reference of these two unlucky concepts being combined into an unlucky date isn't mentioned anywhere until 1869. Others believe it has it's roots in Norse mythology as Loki, the trixter, is said to have crashed a party with 12 guests and tricked the blind god Hod into killing his brother Balder, the god of light, joy and reconciliation.
There is a phobia called Triskaidekaphobia (the fear of the number 13). Composer Arnold Schoenberg had such a severe case of this, that he omitted numbering the 13th measure in some of his later works. He was also reportedly deeply afraid of dying on a year or at an age that was a multiple of 13. When he turned 76, a colleague suggested it would be an unlucky year because 7+6=13. Guess what, Schoenberg did die that year, on Friday the 13th of July, 1951. If You think Triskaidekaphobia sounds severe and wonder how those affected by it makes it through the day today, You might send a thought to those suffering from Paraskevidekatriaphobia. Yep, that's the fear of Friday the 13th, and that must be even worse at least today.
Not every one is hiding under a blanket wishing the day to be over fast, though. In the US there is a new tradition of tattoo artists doing a "Black Friday" on Friday the 13th, and a lot of people get tattoos today. My guess is a lot of black cats and hockey masks.
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