where does friday the 13th come from

Friday the 13th as an “unlucky” day is a mash‑up of older ideas: fear of the number 13, suspicion of Fridays, and some much later pop‑culture boosts like the horror movies.

Not one single origin story

There isn’t a single, clear moment in history where someone declared, “Friday the 13th is cursed now.” Instead, several strands slowly tangled together over centuries.

• Older European cultures already viewed the number 13 as odd or disruptive compared with the “perfect” 12 (months, zodiac signs, apostles, etc.).

• Fridays had a bad reputation in Christian tradition, partly because Jesus was believed to have been crucified on a Friday (Good Friday).

• In the 1800s, you start seeing “Friday the 13th” specifically mentioned as an unlucky date in French and then American plays, novels, and press, which suggests the combo itself is relatively modern.

So the “origin” is more like a slow cultural snowball than a single ancient rule.

Why 13 got a bad reputation

Several myths and traditions helped 13 get labeled as unlucky on its own.

• A Norse myth tells of 12 gods feasting in Valhalla when Loki turned up as an uninvited 13th guest; chaos followed and the beloved god Balder was killed, bringing grief to the world.

• In Christian tradition, the Last Supper had 13 at the table: Jesus and his 12 apostles, with Judas often cast as the fateful “13th guest” who would betray him.

• Over time, people began avoiding 13 at tables, on floors in buildings, and in seating arrangements, reinforcing its “bad luck” image.

Ironically, in some very early, pre‑Christian contexts, 13 may have been tied to lunar and menstrual cycles and seen as symbolically powerful rather than negative.

Why Fridays were seen as unlucky

Fridays had a separate history of bad vibes in parts of Christian Europe.

• Many Christian traditions held that key Biblical tragedies happened on a Friday, including the crucifixion of Jesus.

• Folklore built up around avoiding big decisions on Fridays: starting voyages, signing contracts, beginning new jobs, or even getting married.

• In some later legends, Friday was associated with witch gatherings or “unholy” activity, further darkening its reputation.

Put simply: for a long time, if something went wrong on a Friday, people were ready to see it as a sign.

When “Friday the 13th” becomes a thing

The specific superstition about the combination of Friday and the 13th seems to be surprisingly recent.

• Folklorists digging through newspapers and plays find clear references appearing mainly in the 19th century, especially in French and then American sources, where characters groan, “It’s Friday the 13th—how unlucky!”

• One popular (but debated) story links it to Friday, October 13, 1307, when France’s King Philip IV ordered the arrest of the Knights Templar; this later got folded into the Friday‑the‑13th mythos, though historians point out the superstition appears much later in print.

• By the early 1900s, novels and newspaper jokes were already using Friday the 13th as shorthand for a bad‑luck day, which helped spread the idea in English‑speaking countries.

So the “ancient curse” vibe is more marketing than reality.

Pop culture: Jason, memes, and “lucky 13”

Modern pop culture did a lot of the heavy lifting in turning Friday the 13th into what it feels like today.

• The “Friday the 13th” slasher franchise (starting in 1980) cemented the date in global pop culture as something ominous or scary, especially outside Europe and North America where the older folklore wasn’t as strong.

• Media pieces, listicles, and social posts now treat each Friday the 13th as a mini‑event, recycling the old myths and sharing “bad luck” stories, which keeps the superstition alive.

• At the same time, some communities treat it as a “lucky” or fun day: horror fans celebrate marathons, some tattoo studios run special deals, and a few people flip the superstition on its head and call it their lucky date.

So where does Friday the 13th come from? It’s really a modern superstition built out of old fears of 13, old mistrust of Fridays, and a lot of storytelling, media, and movies layered on top.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.