Feeling Lucky? Today is Friday the 13th

 "Researchers estimate that at least 10 percent of the U.S. population has a fear of the number 13, and each year the even more specific fear of Friday the 13, known as paraskevidekatriaphobia, results in financial losses in excess of $800 million annually, as people avoid marrying, traveling or in the most severe cases, even working." [History]

  To biblical scholars, the number 13 originated from Judas being the 13th disciple. Some say it originated before the time of the Code of Hammurabi, where a 13th rule was not added because of superstition. The most popular history of Friday the 13th being bad luck comes from the story of the Knights Templar of the medieval era. 

  The Knights Templar was established around 1119 and was recognized by Pope in 1129 as an official Catholic military order whose members were professional in martial arts and led a monastic life, defending Christian holy sites and making pilgrimages to the Middle East.

The order was formed by seven knights led by a French nobleman from Champagne – Hugh of Payns, who swore to defend Christian pilgrims in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. In 1120, King Baldwin II of the Kingdom of Jerusalem [118-1131] gave the knights his palace, formerly the Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount of Jerusalem as their headquarters. The building became known as The Temple of Solomon and known as the Order of the Nights of the Temple of Solomon, or for short, “Templars”. The order was officially recognized in an order by Pope Honorius II [1124-1130]. The Knights Templar adopted a distinct uniform of a white cloak with a red cross. The first major battle of the Templar Knights was in 1147 during the Second Crusade [1147-1149].

They became an important Crusader army that controlled castles and lands in Levant and across Europe. But their power and wealth made King Philip IV [1285-1314], who attacked the order in France on Friday, 13 October 1307 arresting all they could find and executing them. Pope Clement V [1305-1314] officially disbanded the order in 1312. The day of Friday, 13 October has been considered bad luck by superstitious people ever since.

In the late 19^th century, Captain William Fowler [1827-1897], tried to remove the superstition of number 13, especially the rule of not having 13 guests at a dinner table, by founding the Thirteen Club. The group dined on the 13^th day of the month in room 13 of the Knickerbocker Cottage for a 13-course dinner whose members would pass beneath a ladder with a banner that read “Morituri te Salutamus”, Latin for “Those of us who are about to die salute you”.

  Four U.S. Presidents belonged to the Thirteen Club: Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and Theodore Roosevelt.

  The last time Friday the 13th occurred was in September 2019, the same time the Harvest Moon rose.