March 13th and November 13th will also fall on a Friday this year.
There are many among us who hold a fear of freaky Friday, yet for others it’s a lucky combination.
Here are 13 of the most common superstitions - how many of them do you believe in?
1) Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue: this popular wedding tradition is believed to have originated during the Victorian era and involves giving the bride various gifts: something old represents continuity, new represents hope and the future, borrowed symbolizes borrowed happiness, and blue is supposed to bring purity, love and fidelity.
2) If a black cat crosses your path its bad luck: this superstition has origins in the middles ages due to the misconstrued belief that single women (usually elderly) who associated themselves with many cats where actually witches who could become cats themselves. Thus a black cat crossing your path could actually be a witch.
3) Crossed fingers: this hand gesture is commonly used for good luck, and it was used during ancient Christian persecution to identify believers as a sign of peace. Today it’s used to excuse the telling of a little white lie.
4) The number 13: Triskaidekaphobia. Not to be confused with Friday the 13th the day, but a superstition that the number 13 is associated with bad luck. That’s why some buildings are missing an apartment number 13, or a 13th floor.
5) Opening an umbrella indoors: according to superstition, if you open an umbrella indoors you are asking for bad luck to “rain on you”. There are many ancient explanations for this one including that it was an insult to the sun gods and an insult to the guardian spirits of the home, causing them to leave you unprotected.
6) Knocking on wood, or saying “knock on wood” after making a statement: this superstition finds its roots in the idea that you’re tempting fate by acknowledging good fortune. There was an ancient belief that good spirits lived in trees and so by knocking on something wooden, a person was calling on the spirits for protection.
7) Break a mirror, face seven years of bad luck: this superstition can be traced back to the Romans who were the first to create glass mirrors. They believed that a mirror had the power to confiscate part of the user's soul. If the user's reflected image became distorted in any way, this could mean a corruption of his soul. Should a user break a mirror, it would mean his soul would be trapped inside.
8) Bad luck comes in threes: many people hold the belief that bad luck comes in threes. A couple of things go wrong and believers start looking for the next bit of bad luck. Maybe it’s just co-incidence, or our imagination?
9) Making a wish on a wishbone: The tradition of breaking a turkey/chicken wishbone goes back to the Romans and, before that, the Etruscans who held birds to be future-predicting oracles. Whenever the Etruscans slaughtered a chicken, they would harvest its wishbone and set it out in the sun to dry, in hopes of preserving the chicken’s divine powers.
10) Find a penny, pick it up and all day long, you'll have good luck: finding money is lucky in itself but the superstition might be a spin-off of another old rhyme: "See a pin, pick it up/ and all day long you'll have good luck/ See a pin, let it lay/ and your luck will pass away." Many years ago, people believed that metal was a gift from the gods, given to man for protection against evil. That developed into the notion that metal brings good luck. This idea is represented in the practice of hanging horseshoes over doorways, wearing charm bracelets and carrying good luck coins.
11) Don't walk under that ladder: this superstition is pretty practical, after all nobody wants to be responsible for knocking someone off a perch. This superstition could arise from a Christian belief in the Holy Trinity: since a ladder leaning against a wall forms a triangle, "breaking" that triangle was blasphemous..
12) Beginner's luck: it’s unlikely that a newbie would beat an experienced player in a game but it does happen! Could it be that the novice is less stressed out about winning, or it could just be a statistical fluke?
13) Friday the 13th - paraskevidekatriaphobia: this has been a source of superstition since the 19th century. Though its origin is shrouded in speculations and theories, its impact is still big today, and many people avoid doing anything significant (like meetings and flights) due to the belief that the day is cursed.
