Friday the 13th. Just hearing the words sends some people into a frenzy: either a frenzy of delight or a frenzy of fear. Considering this date occurs on the calendar at least once a year, 2 or 3 times some years (including this one; in fact, this is the 3rd [and final] Friday the 13th this year), one would think we’d all be used to it by now. I mean, nobody goes out howling at the moon anymore when it’s full … do they?

And yet even the most skeptical of us, the most grounded and level-headed, can’t help but look twice to see if that cat that just crossed paths with us is black or not, on this Friday the 13th.

One of the scariest and most popular movies of all time was based on this date, and named for this date: Friday the 13th which spawned several sequels (the quality of which are hugely criticized). I’ve never seen the movie myself as I’m not into slasher horror films. Or any other kind of horror films. Although curiously I enjoy Christen Haden’s amigurumi called Creepy Cute Crochet which were inspired by the horror genre.

But I digress.

Back to this topic of the general public’s fascination with today’s date. The date on today’s calendar has such a profound effect on some people it actually paralyzes them, and that paralysis even has a name (good luck pronouncing it): paraskevidekatriaphobia which means, fear of Friday the 13th. I wouldn’t say I suffer from that exactly, but I must admit the date on the calendar does have my attention today. If for no other reason than to see what wacky things other people do because they have themselves convinced that something’s supposed to happen today, something bad, very, very bad.

However, I’m not going to rehash what I just read on the Wikipedia entry about today, so just click on the link if you want to read the history of the superstition associated with today’s date. It goes back quite far, actually; in fact it’s believed the actual origin of the superstition lies in an ancient Norse tale of mythology regarding the goddess Frigga.When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, so the story goes, Frigga was banished to a mountaintop where she plotted evil things with 12 others, one of whom was the Devil himself, and they would carry out these evil things on guess which day of the week? Right – Friday.

Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, stock market crashes, Christian tradition,  all have associated the number 13 and Friday in particular with being unlucky.  Nowadays however, with information technology being what it is and news gathering always wanting to dash people’s hopes, we know that Friday the 13th is not any unluckier than any other date on the calendar. But then there is a conflicting report that Friday the 13th is in fact worse for accidents because of all the people out drinking more heavily trying to avoid … a big, ugly accident. Right. I will say the Hurricane Charley, which devastated the town of Punta Gorda, FL, made landfall on Friday, August 13, 2004. It’s taken all this time, 5 years, for the town to rebuild, and some areas will never be rebuilt, and some areas are still rebuilding.

So, say what you want, this blogger intends to go about business as usual today. Although I can’t help noticing I have come down with a cold, today being the first day with it. *sigh*