Friday the 13th: What started the myths?

[Electerrific]

Luckily I only remembered about this date later today when i got home, even though I'm not overly superstitious. But what originally started the myths and associated legends?

 

Is it Jesus and his disciples numbering 13 altogether?

 

Is it the Knights Templars being arrested by the french king's men on the 13th?

[DT Ralge]

I blame the Paraskevidekatriaphobics Anonymous crew for making Friday the 13th what is today.

(What's Greek for "it's just a date, get over it!"?)

[jfish1936]

Luckily I only remembered about this date later today when i got home, even though I'm not overly superstitious. But what originally started the myths and associated legends?

 

Is it Jesus and his disciples numbering 13 altogether?

 

Is it the Knights Templars being arrested by the french king's men on the 13th?

 

 

Isn't 13 supposed to be the number for a coven?

 

When did numbering the days of a month become common? Romans used three special days in a month, the Kalends, Nones, and Ides. They might have said the 13th of March was two days before the Ides, or 4 days after the Nones, but I think the use of "the thirteenth day of March" came later

[tzijlstra]

The history is unclear, I read somewhere it became popular in the 19th century which makes me believe it has a romantic story at the foundation of it. (romanticism as in the literary period of the time)

 

A lot of our current cultural things stem from that era, it was arguably the first period where a majority of people could read which led to an increase in the spread of fables and tales.

[aliceBB]

it was arguably the first period where a majority of people could read which led to an increase in the spread of fables and tales.

 

Weren't fables and tales were spread just as widely before people could read, but orally rather than in writing? Do you have a source for that idea - I'd be really intrerested to read it. Thanks!

[nikki-red]

Ive no idea where it actually started, but Im sure I was once told it was because Judas was the 13th disciple, and Jesus was crucified on a Friday?

[Asteroid]

Paul was the 13th apostle

[nikki-red]

Paul was the 13th apostle

 

 

Maybe it was that Judas was the 13th guest at the Last Supper then?

[tzijlstra]

Weren't fables and tales were spread just as widely before people could read, but orally rather than in writing? Do you have a source for that idea - I'd be really intrerested to read it. Thanks!

 

It is based on time I spent as an under grad studying Frisian Language and Culture. Unfortunately the source I have has been published in German (and a very small number as it is specialist academic Frisian literature).

 

Basically it worked like this:

 

The root of many tales and fables are indeed oral but were therefore also largely localised to close knit communities. When printing became affordable during the late 18th early 19th century more and more people took it upon them to read, this also led to the growth in 'famous authors'. Think of people like Hans Anders Christensen, who made it their job to explore (literally, by travelling through the Danish countryside) orally transferred stories and put them on paper in an embellished form.

 

I am (obviously) more familiar with the Frisian tradition and my then professor was a specialist in the area, he deducted that a lot of oral tradition survived, especially with the elderly, but was under pressure from the globalising effect companies like Disney and indeed authors like Christensen had introduced during the romantic period and beyond.

 

He had identified a number of very popular romantic Frisian authors who were responsible for 95% of Frisian oral tradition stories that were still being transferred from generation to generation. Unfortunately for Frisian, that still only amounted to about 3% of well known fairytales as most had been imported into the previously secluded culture through printed and later video media.

 

Just to put the important work of the romantics into context for you: Before various romantic authors discovered Greek Mythology it was largely unknown throughout the world, it is now generally accepted that without these authors we still would have been ignorant about this beautiful body of literature. The same goes for the revival of the Poetic Edda and old English stories - for something closer to home have a read through the excellent wiki page on the King Arthur legend:

 

Legend of King Arthur it explains how Tennyson was responsible for the legend resurfacing in our collective memory.

[SiSiSi]

I've seen a couple of documentaries that claim that the superstition came from the day that the French king rounded up the Knights Templar and did horrible things to them afterwards. The day was Friday 13th.