Beware: It’s Friday the 13th. Don’t say we didn’t warn you

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

It’s Friday the 13th – the day that may make you want to avoid walking under any ladders or maybe drive your car more carefully. Michel, what about you? You plan on avoiding anything today?

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Not a single thing. I am not superstitious at all.

MARTÍNEZ: Me neither. I’m only a little stitious.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

MARTÍNEZ: Not superstitious. Well, OK, did you know that Friday the 13th as a day of bad luck in the U.S. is actually a pretty new superstition? It all came here from England. Moira Marsh is a folklore librarian at Indiana University Bloomington.

MOIRA MARSH: The first recorded instance we have of that in print is 1913. Many people will tell you that it’s very, very ancient. It is not.

MARTIN: Marsh says many countries around the world mark Friday the 13th, but that’s primarily because of pop culture – like the movie “Friday The 13th,” the slasher movie featuring the murderer Jason, who wears a hockey mask.

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MARTÍNEZ: But some countries have their own days of bad luck – such as Italy, where they say Friday the 17th is unlucky. In China, the number four is unlucky, because in Mandarin Chinese, four sounds like their word for death. And in Spanish-speaking countries and Greece, Tuesday the 13th is considered an unlucky day.

MARSH: The idea that 13 is an unlucky number doesn’t really show up until maybe the 17th century. Before that, it might have been considered a good number. And it goes back to, supposedly, the 13 people who are at the Last Supper.

MARTÍNEZ: But Marsh says that changed during the Protestant Reformation, a deeply religious time when religious superstitions were viewed negatively.

MARSH: So, A, does this explain why you’re a tad bit late this morning?

MARTÍNEZ: Hey, in my mind, I was early, so I don’t know.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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