Have you ever wondered how Friday the 13th got such as bad reputation? I did, so I did some research and found some interesting tidbits at howstuffworks.com. The first thing I learned is that there is a name for the fear of Friday the 13th. And, it’s quite a mouthful - paraskevidekatriaphobia. This phobia packs a double whammy because it is the combination of the fear of Fridays and the fear of the number 13.

The bad luck associated with the number 13 and with Friday is deeply rooted in Christian theology. There were 13 people at the Last Supper, namely Jesus and his 12 apostles. Jesus was crucified on a Friday and some people believe that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit on a Friday. It’s possible that the Christian Church singled out Friday as particularly sinister because in the Roman calendar, Friday was devoted to Venus, the goddess of love. Also, when the calendar was adapted by the Norse people, they named the day after Frigg, the Norse goddess of love and sex. These female goddesses posed a threat to the male dominated church and Friday became the victim of a smear campaign.

And just to make you feel more like you are re-reading The DaVinci Code, King Philip of France arrested and began torturing the Knights Templar on, you guessed it, a Friday the 13th in 1306.

Do you suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia? Apparently a lot of people do, at least to some extent. Is it possible that focusing on everything that can go wrong is the first step toward having a bad day?