WEBVTT - Why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky?

0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.920
<v Speaker 1>Streaming TV shows and movies directly to your home is

0:00:02.920 --> 0:00:05.680
<v Speaker 1>a breeze with Netflix. As a Netflix member, you can

0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:09.600
<v Speaker 1>instantly watch TV and movies on your PC, mac, mobile device,

0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:12.319
<v Speaker 1>or right on your television. Get a free thirty day

0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.840
<v Speaker 1>trial membership. Go to Netflix dot com, slash brain Stuff

0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.160
<v Speaker 1>and sign up today. Welcome to brain Stuff from house

0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:30.240
<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com where smart happens. Hi, I'm Marshall

0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:33.720
<v Speaker 1>Brain with today's question, why is it considered unlucky when

0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:37.320
<v Speaker 1>the thirteenth day in the month lands on a Friday?

0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:40.920
<v Speaker 1>In North America and Europe, a significant portion of the

0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:46.960
<v Speaker 1>population behaves very strangely on Friday. They won't fly in airplanes,

0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.479
<v Speaker 1>host a party, apply for a job, get married, or

0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:53.080
<v Speaker 1>even start a new project. Some people won't come into work.

0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:56.720
<v Speaker 1>In the United States, roughly eight percent of the population

0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:01.680
<v Speaker 1>is afraid or Friday. Friday as we know it has

0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:06.120
<v Speaker 1>its roots in many traditions and cultures. The superstitions surrounding

0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:10.080
<v Speaker 1>Friday the thirteenth is actually a combination of two separate fears,

0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:14.520
<v Speaker 1>the fear of the number thirteen and the fear of Fridays.

0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:18.800
<v Speaker 1>The most familiar source of both these phobias is Christian theology.

0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.640
<v Speaker 1>Thirteen is significant to Christians because it's the number of

0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.880
<v Speaker 1>people who were present at the Last Supper Jesus plus

0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:30.480
<v Speaker 1>his twelve apostles. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was

0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:34.120
<v Speaker 1>the thirteenth member of the party to arrive. Christians have

0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.800
<v Speaker 1>traditionally been wary of Fridays as well, because Jesus was

0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:41.800
<v Speaker 1>crucified on a Friday. In addition to that, some theologians

0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.640
<v Speaker 1>hold that Adam and Eve eight from the Forbidden Fruit

0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.280
<v Speaker 1>on a Friday, and that the Great Flood began on

0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.680
<v Speaker 1>a Friday. In the past, many Christians would never begin

0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:54.080
<v Speaker 1>any new project or trip on a Friday, for fear

0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:58.440
<v Speaker 1>that the endeavor would be doomed from the start. Sailors

0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:02.600
<v Speaker 1>were particularly super issius in this regard, often refusing to

0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.640
<v Speaker 1>ship out on a Friday. According to legend, in the

0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:09.520
<v Speaker 1>eighteenth century, the British Navy commissioned a ship called the

0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:13.919
<v Speaker 1>HMS Friday in order to quell this very superstition. The

0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.680
<v Speaker 1>Navy selected the crew on a Friday, They launched the

0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.400
<v Speaker 1>ship on a Friday, and even selected a man named

0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.760
<v Speaker 1>James Friday as the ship's captain. Then one Friday morning,

0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:28.920
<v Speaker 1>the ship set off on its maiden voyage and disappeared forever. Don't,

0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.560
<v Speaker 1>don't duh, and let's not even get started on Apollo thirteen.

0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:37.480
<v Speaker 1>Some historians trace the Christian distrust of Fridays to the

0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:43.040
<v Speaker 1>Church's overall opposition to pagan religions. Friday is named after Frigg,

0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:47.919
<v Speaker 1>the Norse goddess of love and sex. This strong female figure,

0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:53.000
<v Speaker 1>these historians claim, posed a threat to male dominated Christianity.

0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:56.760
<v Speaker 1>To fight her influence, the Christian Church characterized her as

0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:01.360
<v Speaker 1>a witch, vilifying the day named after her. This characterization

0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.640
<v Speaker 1>may also have played a part in the fear of

0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:07.240
<v Speaker 1>the number thirteen. It was said that Frigg would often

0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.760
<v Speaker 1>join a covid of witches, normally a group of twelve,

0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:15.160
<v Speaker 1>bringing the total to thirteen. A similar Christian tradition holds

0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:19.079
<v Speaker 1>that thirteen is unholy because it signifies the gathering of twelve,

0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.160
<v Speaker 1>which is in the devil. Some trace the infamy of

0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:26.679
<v Speaker 1>the number thirteen back to ancient Norse culture. In Norse mythology,

0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.560
<v Speaker 1>the beloved herold Balder was killed at a banquet by

0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.720
<v Speaker 1>the malevolent god Loki, who crashed the party of twelve,

0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:36.240
<v Speaker 1>bringing the group to thirteen. This story, as well as

0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:38.440
<v Speaker 1>the story of the Last Supper, led to one of

0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:42.560
<v Speaker 1>the most entrenched connotations of the number thirteen. You should

0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:45.600
<v Speaker 1>never sit down to a meal in a group of thirteen.

0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.200
<v Speaker 1>Another significant part of the Friday the thirteenth legend is

0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:53.480
<v Speaker 1>a particularly bad Friday the thirteenth that occurred in the

0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:57.600
<v Speaker 1>Middle Ages. On a Friday the thirteenth in thirteen o six,

0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:01.720
<v Speaker 1>King Philip of France burned the re Veared Nights templar

0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.640
<v Speaker 1>at the Stake, marking the occasion as a day of evil.

0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:10.480
<v Speaker 1>Some people come to fear Friday because of misfortune they've

0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.440
<v Speaker 1>experienced on that day in the past. If you get

0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:17.160
<v Speaker 1>in a car wreck on one Friday or lose your wallet,

0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.320
<v Speaker 1>that day is bound to stay with you. But if

0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:23.480
<v Speaker 1>you think about it, bad things happen all the time.

0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.480
<v Speaker 1>So if you're looking for bad luck on Friday, you'll

0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.160
<v Speaker 1>probably find it, but you can just as easily find

0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:32.800
<v Speaker 1>it on any other day as well. For more on

0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.320
<v Speaker 1>this and thousands of other topics. Because it has staff

0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:42.359
<v Speaker 1>works dot com, streaming TV shows and movies directly to

0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.400
<v Speaker 1>your home is a breeze. With Netflix. As a Netflix member,

0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.680
<v Speaker 1>you can instantly watch TV and movies on your PC, mac,

0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.720
<v Speaker 1>mobile device, or right on your television. Get a free

0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.200
<v Speaker 1>thirty day trial membership. Go to Netflix dot com slash

0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:56.760
<v Speaker 1>brain stuff and sign up today.