Friday the 13th - Study Says Stay in Bed

Paraskavedekatriaphobia - Fear of Fridays and the Number 13

Myths, legends, and folklore...where would Harry Potter be without them? I wonder if Harry suffers from paraskavedekatriaphobia. What is that?!? According to Dr. Donald Dossey, a psychotherapist specializing in the treatment of phobias, and coiner of the term "paraskevidekatriaphobia", it describes people afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th - and according to Dossey, there are about 21 million of us in America. Roughly 8% of our population wants to stay in bed for fear of bad luck on Friday the 13th. Some sources say it may be the most widespread superstition in the United States. Some people won't go to work on Friday the 13th; some won't eat in restaurants; many wouldn't think of setting a wedding on the date.

Why do we have a fear of Friday the 13th anyway? What started all of the devilish discussion about the freaky Friday, bad luck day? There is a history actually, and according to Jeannie Banks Thomas, director of the folklore program at Utah State University, these kinds of myths and legends were essentially created by one religion demonizing another. One story about Fridays is from as early as the sixth century. Christian missionaries from England traveled to Germany or Russia to stamp out other religions like the Norse goddess Frigg (or Freyja), goddess of sky, love, fertility, and motherhood. As Christianity gained popularity throughout Europe, missionaries demonized her and demoted her to a witch. But, there were some who still believed in the power of Frigg and wanted to remain as her followers. As the Christians continued to shun Frigg even more strongly, her followers started meeting secretly in caves to worship her. This only added to society fearing Frigg and the speculation is that followers gathered in the caves on Fridays. Later, her name was linked to the derivative of the word Friday, which became known as the day of worshiping the witch. The belief that Friday was an evil day followed.