Friday the 13th is a day associated with bad luck and ill omens.

However, why is this particular combination of day of the week and day of the month considered bad luck?

And if you think you know why Friday the 13th is considered unlucky, there's a good chance that the story you've heard is wrong.

Learn more about Friday the 13th and how it became associated with being unlucky on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Normally when I do episodes like this I can start with some similar holiday

from ancient history which gradually morphs into the day that we know today.

I can't really do that when talking about Friday the 13th because there is really nothing

before the 19th century about Friday the 13th being an unlucky day. Absolutely nothing. The funny thing is,

this sounds exactly like the sort of superstition that would have had some sort of

ancient or at least medieval origin. There are two superstitions that do have

ancient or at least older origins which did come together to form the Friday the 13th myth.

This has to do with the number 13 and to a lesser extent Fridays.

The superstition surrounding the number 13 being unlucky goes far back and there are a whole

bunch of different possible origins which might have arisen independently.

The reason why 13 is considered unlucky probably had to do with the number 12.

12 is a really nice round number.

It's divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, and six, and it makes nice fractions with eight and

nine. There were 12 apostles, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 signs in the

zodiac, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 days of Christmas, and of course there are 12 months in a year.

13 is right next to 12, and it's a prime number. It can't be divided by anything.

While there are infinitely many prime numbers, this one sits right next to 12 in stark opposition.

But so does 11. So why does 13 get all the hate?

There's a bunch of theories surrounding this from many different sources.

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