Friday the 13th is a dreaded day to millions of people.
It’s been considered unlucky for a very long time and this date of misfortune has many connections across cultures and across time.
In Nordic traditions, the god of mischief Loki is the 13th god, and in Tarot the 13th card is Death.
To the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, the number 13 was considered an “uncomfortable” number, as it didn’t fit into their numerological system very well.
In Greece, King Phillip 2nd (Father of Alexander the Great) was murdered by one of his bodyguards because he had placed a statue of himself next to the 12 gods of Olympus.
In 1307, the Knights Templar - the most powerful financial and holy organisation of the medieval world - were rounded up and arrested by King Phillip IV of France. This was mostly due to the fact that Phillip was in the middle of a bloody war campaign against Britain, and he owed huge sums of money to the Templars, who were in effect, a very early banking system - sort of like the International Monetary Fund of the day.
Instead of paying up, he decided to wipe out his debts and increase his own wealth all in one foul stroke!
He created a disinformation campaign against the knights, accusing them of being heretics and satanists. He had all of the Templars across France arrested in a single day - Friday the 13th!
The Templar’s were then subjected to torture and forced confessions of spitting on the cross, sodomy, devil worship and pretty much any other blasphemous accusation he could come up with.
Once these false confessions were stated, Phillip managed to convince the Pope to have all the Knights Templar in the world arrested, bringing down the entire organisation.
This is where many think our fear of this day stems from...
It’s important to also point out that the number 13 isn’t itself unlucky. In fact it’s considered a lucky prime number.
It’s also the number of original months of the year before the Gregorian calendar was introduced.
Whatever the true origin of, this day - as with all days - are what we make them.
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