A Friday the 13th state of mind
While there is no direct correlation between an increase in ghost sightings and Friday the 13th, some refrain from visiting cemeteries or spooky woods on the day.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Spilling salt is considered especially unlucky on Friday the 13th. The remedy (according to legend): Tossing a pinch of the spilled salt over your left shoulder.
Breaking a mirror, it is believed, brings seven years of bad luck. The seven years' luck dates back to Roman tradition, which thought that it takes seven years for life to renew.
Courtesy of Bridget Laero
Friday the 13th is something of a holiday in the tattoo industry. Last Friday the 13th, Matt Maltman, an artist at Nice Ink in Canonsburg, and his fellow artists welcomed nearly 130 clients into the shop and are expecting as many or more today.
Courtesy of Bridget Laero
Tattoo artist Amanda Getz decorates a client’s arm with a small tattoo last Friday the 13th. Getz and her Nice Ink family will welcome an anticipated 130 or more clients into the shop today.
This Friday the 13th, nine artists will spend the day creating small tattoos for clients. Last Friday the 13th, Shane Jones, pictured here, added a floral tattoo to a client's shoulder.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Some crystals, like smoky quartz, are believed to counteract the unluckiness of Friday the 13th.
Salt spills and your bones turn to ice. A black cat darts across your path; waves crash in the pit of your stomach. The bedroom door creaks open, sending shivers down your spine.
Trivial moments elicit visceral reactions on Friday the 13th, a date steeped in superstition and so deeply rooted in our cultural psyche that some buildings conspicuously lack a 13th floor, thespians won’t utter the name of Shakespeare’s “Scottish play” in theaters and many travelers refuse to board planes that day.
“Thirteen is an unlucky number,” said Dr. Emily Sweitzer, professor, director of liberal studies and program coordinator for social deviance at California University of Pennsylvania. “There are 12 months on the calendar, not 13. The reason why (Friday the 13th) is viewed as superstitious is because of a lot of different events that people are not aware of that happened in history. A lot of it has religious undertones that were then more than likely adapted to society much more broadly.”
One could argue Friday the 13th’s bad rap began at a dinner party.
According to legend, 12 Norse gods were enjoying a banquet in the deity Odin’s majestic palace, Valhalla. Loki, god of mischief, arrived uninvited, bringing the guest count to 13. During dinner, Loki tricked the blind god Hod into killing the beloved Balder, god of goodness and joy, thus casting the world into darkness.
Centuries later, another dinner party with one too many guests proved fatal to the man of honor. In Christian tradition, savior Jesus Christ and 11 apostles sat down to a feast, a feast to which the 12th apostle, Judas Iscariot, was late.
Following dinner, Judas led Roman authorities to Christ; Jesus was condemned to death on the cross and died on a Friday.
“The Knights Templars … were executed on Friday the 13th,” Sweitzer noted, alluding to the date in 1307 when France’s King Phillip IV arrested hundreds of Knights Templars, many of whom were burned at the stake.
During Britain’s late middle ages, criminals were hanged on Fridays, another unlucky association with that weekday. The aptly titled novel, “Friday the Thirteenth,” by Thomas William Lawson, published in 1907, frightened the public with its descriptions of chaos on Wall Street, and in 1980, Hollywood gifted Americans nightmares of a mask-wearing murderer named Jason when it debuted the “Friday the 13th” franchise.
“It has become ingrained so much into our culture that it’s second nature,” Sweitzer said. “When you hear the number ’13,’ it’s associated with bad feelings, bad karma.”
Those who fear the number 13 may be diagnosed with triskaidekaphobia. A morbid fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia.
“For some, Friday the 13th may be an anxiety-provoking event. But when it comes to superstitions, it isn’t necessarily the event itself that causes anxiety, but rather one’s interpretation of the event itself,” Dr. Aris Karagiorgakis, assistant teaching professor of psychology at Penn State University, Fayette, wrote in an email. “If you see a black cat, walk under a ladder, break a mirror, or believe the number 13 is unlucky, then you expect something bad will happen. Inevitably, when something unlucky does happen – unlucky things eventually happen to us all – this now reinforces the belief in the superstition.”
Some turn to the esoteric arts for protection against Friday the 13th’s bad juju.
If you can get your hands on smoky quartz, carrying a bit in your pocket or wearing it as jewelry may remove negative emotions from your energy field. Two other stones you may want on hand this Friday the 13th: Labradorite, which protects against negativity and misfortune, and blue kyanite, which is said to drive away anger, confusion and stress.
If crystals aren’t your thing, there’s always tattoos.
For those in the tattoo industry, Friday the 13th has become something like a holiday.
“The dark side of things, and Halloween, and things that are important and part of the industry,” said Bridget Laero, manager of Nice Ink Tattoo Shop in Canonsburg, which offers small tattoos for $40 per in honor of Friday the 13th.
Nice Ink is one of several local studios offering flash sales today, a tradition credited to Texas-based tattoo artist Oliver Peck, who in 1995 threw a Friday the 13th party for artists and clients.
The number “13” in tattoo culture predates Peck’s 24-hour bash. Sailors often inked their skin with the number to ward off bad luck. Should bad luck find them, they reasoned, it would recognize the unlucky number and leave the seafarer alone.
“I just think it’s like an extra little thing for the industry. It’s fun to do,” said Cory Lupori, a tattoo artist at Small Town Studio in Scenery Hill, which is offering a flash sale for Friday the 13th. “It is a little faster-paced. People’ll start to sign up. You do the tattoo, high-five them ‘thank you.’ You meet new people. It’s a fun thing to do.”
Lupori said before he started tattooing three years ago, he and a group of friends went tattoo shop-hopping to collect Friday the 13th ink.
“We hit up a couple different shops,” he said. “I got a little ghost. It’s nice when Friday the 13th falls closer, or in October. You can do a lot more spooky stuff.”
Steve Witt, who runs 402 Tattoo in Bentleyville and has 28 years of tattooing experience, said he used to host Friday the 13th flash sales. Witt now focuses on fitting clients in on Fridays and weekends for larger pieces.
“It’s more to help young, budding artists to get better and to get quicker at their craft. I think it’s a good way for young artists to break into the industry,” he said. “It’s a good way for customers who normally wouldn’t get a tattoo to get their foot in the door and maybe experience what a tattoo feels like.”
Today is the only Friday the 13th on the 2022 calendar, and whether you’re excited for a tattoo or arranging crystals to ward off bad luck, you may be interested to note that these rituals are just as symbolic as an open umbrella indoors.
“It is natural for our brains to want to make sense of our world and our realities, and it tends to be biased toward making connections that bring us comfort. In the short term, it may appear that superstitions like Friday the 13th cause more harm, especially for those who may be vulnerable to anxiety. But in a random, chaotic and unpredictable world, people find comfort, security, a sense of control and predictability in superstitions because they can provide a meaningful explanation for certain negative outcomes,” said Karagiorgakis.
“So in the long run, superstitions can be mentally healthy,” he said. “Remember this the next time you knock on wood to undo a jinx, and you will quickly recognize the comforting benefits of invoking a ‘silly’ superstition.”