FRIDAY THE 13TH OF FEBRUARY

 

Today is Friday February the 13th. It is first of the Fridays that fall on the 13th: Friday 13th in March 2026 and Friday 13th in November. Some people take this day seriously. The superstitious date was first written about in France in an article published in 1834, the French literary magazine Revue de Paris by Italian author Marquis de Salvo who refers to a Sicilian Count who killed his daughter on Friday the 13th. The article was titled Le Chateau de Carini that stated: “It is always Fridays and the number 13 that bring bad luck!”

In America, Friday the 13th was considered unlucky when William Fowler, a Union captain during the Civil War, founded the Thirteen Club that was established to “to break superstitious taboos about luck.” The organization consisted of 13 members that included Fowler who gathered for a 13-course meal on the 13th day of each month in room 13 of the Knickerbocker Cottage in New York city. The first meeting was held on Friday, January 13, 1882. Before the 13 sat down to dine at each meeting, members passed under a ladder with a banner that read “Morituri te Salutamus”. Latin partially quoted concerning gladiators in the Colosseum in Rome before an event, translated: “Those of us who are about to die salute you”. The gladiators full speech before events in Rome: Avē Imperātor, moritūrī tē salūtant - "Hail, emperor, those who are about to die salute you", quoted in Suetonius, De vita Caesarium (The Life of the Caesars). 

But the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition began with Norse mythology in the story about the Norse [Viking] god of mischief Loki who crashed a banquet in the Hall of Valhalla. The story goes that 12 gods were present at the banquet, but Loki shows up uninvited which made him the 13th god present. Loki trick the blind god Höd into shooting his brother Balder, the god of light and goodness, with an arrow. 

In Christianity, the number 13 is associated with the story of the Last Supper, in which the disciple Judas Iscariot, betrayed Jesus that led to his crucifixion the next day which was a Friday. Judas was the 13th guest. 

One of the most popular theories links Friday the 13th with the legendary Crusade warriors - the Knights Templar. Founded about 1118 as a monastic military order devoted to the protection of pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land following the Christian capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade. Knights Templar quickly became one of the richest and most influential groups of the Middle Ages through donations from the crowned heads of Europe. By the time of the 14th century, Templars had established a system of castles, churches and banks throughout Western Europe. It was what brought the Templars downfall, which began in the early morning hours of Friday, October 13, 1307. The month before, secret documents had been sent to couriers throughout France. The papers contained details and gossip of black magic and sexual rituals. They were sent to King Philip IV of France, who had in preceding years launched attacks on the Lombards (a powerful banking group) and Jews in France, for whom the monarch expelled so he could confiscate their property. 

Following that fateful Friday, more than 600 Templars were arrested, including the Grand Master Jacques de Molay and the Order’s treasurer. Caught up in King Philip’s arrests were non-warriors, middle-aged men who managed the banking and farming activities of the Order. The men were charged with false offenses that included heresy, devil worship and spitting on the cross, homosexuality, fraud and financial corruption.

With the use of Inquisitor’s torture method, it wasn’t long before the poor souls confessed so the torture would stop. 

Pope Clement V horrified after hearing the news of the fate of the Templars, feared the action against the popular Templars. The Knights “confessions” forced the Pope to react to the false charges against the Templars that included detailed description of their heresy. Clement issued a papal bull ordering the Western kings to arrest Templars living in their lands. Few monarch acted upon the request of the Pope, but the fate of the French Templars was irreversible. Their lands and money were confiscated and given to another religious order, the Hospitallers. Of course the greedy King Philip got some of the confiscated cash. 

Within weeks of the confessions many Templars recanted and Clement shut down the inquisition trials in early 1308. 

In the spring of 1314, Grand Master Molay and other Templars were burned at the stake in Paris, bringing the noble Order to an end and the beginning of the Friday the 13th superstition.