Just another number?

Transcript: Just another number?

There’s a significant date in the month of June this year – Friday the 13th – a date many people consider to be unlucky. And while there’s only one Friday the 13th this year, there will be three in 2026: in February, March and November.

Personally, I think it’s nonsense. In fact, I organized a lunch with friends on Friday, 13 December, last year, specifically because of the date. But it’s an interesting question. Why is the number 13 thought to bring bad luck? Is it because we love the perfect number 12 – our “dozen” – whereas the number 13 lies outside that familiar range?

Many stories suggest this. For example, we’re told in the GospelEvangeliumGospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke that Judas Iscariot came late to the Last Supperdas Letzte AbendmahlLast Supper, making him the 13th guest. Judas betray sb.jmdn. verratenbetrayed Jesus to the Romans just a few hours later, and the crucifixionKreuzigungcrucifixion took place the next day (a Friday).

In NorsenordischNorse mythology, too, it was a 13th guest whose actions had tragic consequences. That guest was the trickster Loki, who went, uninvited, to a 12-person banquet at Valhalla (heaven). There, he tricked another guest, Hodur, the blind god of darkness, into killing Baldur, the god of joy, with a poisoned arrow. After that, the world was plunge sb. into sth.jmd. in etw. stürzenplunged into darkness, the good times gone forever.

Whether or not the fear of the number 13 predate sth.etw. vorausgehenpredates these stories, or was created because of them, remains unclear. Nevertheless, they suggest that it’s unlucky to have 13 people eat together at the same table.

What about when the number 13 is linked to a Friday? Apart from the biblical story of the crucifixion happening on a Friday, after the Last Supper with 13 guests, a possible source of our fear of this date is an event that occurred on Friday, 13 October 1307. On that day, King Philip IV of France had some of the Knights TemplarTempelritterKnights Templar in his kingdom arrested. Accused of heresyKetzereiheresy, they were imprisoned, torture sb.jmdn. folterntortured and burned, and many made false confessionGeständnisconfessions to save their lives.

All that is ancient history. But even today, many skyscrapers, including hotels, don’t have a 13th floor or a room number 13. Indeed, my own street here in Perth has no house number 13.

There are, of course, many other beliefs about what’s unlucky. To break a mirror, for example, is thought to bring seven years of bad luck. It’s believed that a black cat crossing your path will make you unlucky. So will opening an umbrella indoors, putting shoes on the table or a hat on the bed, or even pointing at a rainbow. Never wish an actor good luck before a performance: it’s far better to say, “Break a leg!” They’ll understand.