Friday 13th Facts

I've always been fascinated by superstition, probably because I'm not at all superstitious and am forever being told off for opening my umbrella inside etc. I thought I would share some fun Friday 13th facts:

1. People who have an irrational fear of Friday 13th are known as friggatriskaidekaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobics, which comes from the Greek for 'Friday', 'thirteen' and 'fear'

2. Friday13th happens between 1 and 3 times a year (in 2012, it's 3 times and they fall exactly 13 weeks apart!)

3. In Spain, it's not Friday 13th, but Tuesday 13th which is considered to be unlucky

4. The Costa Concordia sank on Friday 13th April 2012

5. Over the past 400 years, the 13th has fallen on a Friday more often than any other day

6. Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.

7. In Ontario, Canada, the number 13 is skipped in the numbering of highways

8. Fidel Castro was born on Friday 13th August 1926
9. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is said to have avoided travel on the 13th day of any month, and would never host 13 guests at a meal.

10. Margaret Thatcher was born on Friday 13th October 1923
11. The US Seal has 13 stars, bars, feathers in the eagle's tail, 13 bars in one claw, 13 olive branches in the other.

12. Many hotels in Las Vegas, including The Venetian and The Palazzo have no 13th floor

13. But it's all OK, because for pagans, 13 is actually a lucky number!