For hundreds of years, humanity has associated Tuesday or Friday the 13th with bad luck. But where does this day come from?
The saying aptly applies: “Tuesday the 13th, do not marry, do not embark, do not leave home,” alluding to a date always associated with bad omens.
However, this superstition would have its origins in Greek and Roman mythology as well as religion and also in some historical events in which tragedies occurred.
For example in Christianity andl Number 13 It has bad omens: there were so many guests at the Last Supper, it is assumed that Jesus was crucified in verse 13 and, strangely, the Antichrist appears in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation.
The NatGeo portal says that there are 13 evil spirits in the Jewish Kabbalah, but this number also appears in the verse that mentions the ram that Abraham had to sacrifice to God; so it became a death number.
Friday the 13th also usually has this connotation of bad luck, as it is not only associated with the death of Jesus, but also with the beginning of the persecution of the Knights Templar in 1307.
The number 13 is culturally associated with bad luck. Photo: Unsplash
The cultural influence on the number 13
From this we can understand the reference to the number, but its connection with Tuesday goes back to a Roman tradition, as Mars is considered a warlord.
The Romans and many cultures took the influence of the gods in their daily lives very seriously and therefore Mars was always considered a violent god and cause of conflict.
It is believed that the fusion of Roman and Christian traditions would have led to the phobia of Tuesdays and Fridays the 13th.
Curiously, there are more superstitions about Friday the 13th in European countries; while Tuesday the 13th is more widespread in Spanish-speaking countries (Americas).
In this way, some cultures believe in a whole historical story about Tuesday the 13th and bad luck.
In fact, there are elevators that skip the 13th floor, or people who simply don’t want to sit at a table with that number. In addition, some buildings and hospitals change the number of floors, beds or rooms so that 13 is not taken into account.
The connotation of this number is so great that there is already talk of a phobia Triscaidekaphobia afraid of the number 13.
One of the most representative events of this phobia occurred during the Apollo 13 mission, where there was an explosion in the oxygen tank before landing on the moon.
The NASA mission had to be aborted and the crew was ordered to return to Earth.
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