Friday is the 13th. Oh, joy…There are two months
this year with a Friday the 13th in them, the second month being
October. I don’t know about you, but sometimes Triskaidekaphobia and
Paraskevidekatriaphobia pull me up short. (That’s the fear of the number 13 and
fear of Friday the 13th. And, yes, those are real words. Honest. I
didn’t make them up.)
The tradition of Friday being a day of bad luck dates back
centuries with some of the more common theories are that the Crucifixion of
Christ occurred on a Friday (Good Friday and I will attempt to keep my father’s
voice from sounding in my head with his in poor taste joke about what a way to
spend Good Friday), Eve is rumored to have offered Adam the apple in the Garden
of Eden on a Friday, and the great flood is also supposed to have begun on a
Friday.
The Last Supper is the main source for the tradition of the
number 13 being bad luck. Judas Iscariot was the thirteenth person to be seated
at the table, and if you’ve read your Bible, you kinda know how that worked out
not only for Judas but for Jesus.
Combine these two bad luck symbols and you get a day
strongly associated with bad luck and misfortune: Friday the 13th.
One legend of the origin of Friday the 13th as
being unlucky belongs to the Knights Templar. For almost two centuries, the
Templars dominated medieval life. They protected pilgrims on the way to the
Holy Lands, made safe the roads those pilgrims travelled, began a sort of
banking system so a traveler didn’t have to carry massive stores and riches
with them as they journeyed the less than safe roadways, and became so rich and
powerful that they could and did challenge the authority of Phillip IV of
France and Pope Clement V. Both men were deep in debt to the Templars. On
Friday the 13th, 1307, Phillip ordered all Templars arrested and
their property seized. The Templars were accused of witchcraft. Unfortunately
for Phillip, many of the Templars had been told beforehand of his plans and
they escaped, but not after hiding vast stores of treasure which the King’s men
never found. (Supposedly, there is a huge Templar treasure hidden on Oak
Island, somewhere off the eastern coast of Canada.)
The Grandmaster of the Order, Jacques DeMolay was one of
those captured. He was tortured and then burned at the stake. DeMolay refused
to admit to any wrong doing and denied up to his dying breath he was guilty of
witchcraft. One of the legends surrounding DeMolay’s death is that as he was
being consumed by the flames, he cursed both Phillip and Clement, saying
neither man would live out the year. Interestingly enough, both Phillip and
Clement died within months of DeMolay.
Did his curse come to fruition or were Phillip and Clement
helped along to their eternal rewards by Templars who had infiltrated the ranks
and sought to avenge DeMolay and prove his innocence by making that curse come
true? For what it’s worth, my money’s on the Templars.
Just to be on the safe side, this Friday I’m going to avoid
ladders so I don’t inadvertently walk under one, my poor cat is going to have
to live without me for a day (Teak is a black cat), I won’t touch a mirror so I
don’t risk it breaking, and knock on wood, I’ll get through just another day on
the calendar.
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