There are various types of fear that human beings live with. Some of those fears are very real with some substantiated or obvious causes. Some of those fears are purely psychological with no substantiation in the real world. Some fears however are neither psychological nor are they due to obvious causes. They are more superstitions than fears.
Friday the 13th phobia is a much talked about fear. It has found its way in books, films, music and is integrated in pop culture. Is there something real about the Friday the 13th phobia or is it simply a superstition?
Let us look at the evolution of this fear, or how it originated. There are some historians, folklorists and theorists, who believe that the fear emanated from the story that there were thirteen people at the last supper, Jesus being the thirteenth and the supper was held on a Thursday leading onto the crucifixion on a Friday, or Good Friday. In that sense, Friday the 13th phobia is a double fear. One is the fear of the number 13. The other is the fear of a Friday. The combined fear is of the 13th day of any month on the Gregorian calendar that falls on a Friday. The fear of the number thirteen is known as triskaidekaphobia but there is no such term for the phobia of Friday the 13th.
One could have believed the origins of the phobia in the Middle Ages being attributed to the last supper but there is a fact that doesn’t validate the theory. The phobia did not find any mention in any book or scriptures or writings until the nineteenth century. It can be inferred that the phobia came to the fore only a century and a half ago. This doesn’t fit with the theory that people have been afraid of Friday the 13th for ages.
The number thirteen is considered to be unlucky in many cultures and that has nothing to do with Christianity or Christ. The combined fear of Friday the 13th doesn’t find its place in nonwestern societies. Most fears that qualify as phobias have scientific reasoning and they are universal such as claustrophobia or fear of reptiles.
Today, the Friday the 13th phobia is not as embedded in people’s psyche as it was a couple decades back. But there are many who still fret as the day gets closer or when the thirteenth of a month is a Friday.