Uh oh! today is Friday the 13th which is, supposedly, when superstitions come alive. When the thirteenth day of the month falls on a Friday it appears shorouded with superstition and bad luck, so the question is: is this true or just an excuse to scare people?
Uh oh! today is Friday the 13th which is, supposedly, when superstitions come alive. When the thirteenth day of the month falls on a Friday it appears shorouded with superstition and bad luck, so the question is: is this true or just an excuse to scare people?
Considered one of the unluckiest days in the calender, this year must have been a double whammy of bad luck as we had two freaky Fridays- on in February and one in November (today). Psychologists call the fear of Friday the 13th paraskevidekatriaphobia but most people who believe that this day is the reason for negativity don’t usually have an explanation for how it works.
Since the 80s the Hollywood film industry have been releasing a series of horror movies centred around Friday the 13th. In one of these, predictably called Friday the 13th, a group of camp counsellors are stalked and killed while they were trying to re-open a camp naer where a child had drowned.
Many people believe that superstitions such as Friday the 13th form part of Western belief and that it doesn’t really affect anyone. Yolisa Madlala who enjoys watching movies says people are confused because they got it from movies such as Freddie vs Jason so when freaky Friday comes around they think Freddie is coming back for them. She also believes that Western culture has over-emphasised its importance. "If something happens on a normal Friday there are no speculations but if it’s Friday 13th then they blame the day. Why is it so?" she says. By way of an answer, the director of Famsa, Grahamstown says superstition seems to be rooted more in cultural beliefs than in social myths.
