Look at the calendar!

Do you know anyone who is staying home today with a bad case of friggatriskaidekaphobia?  Lucy didn't mention it in her rundown of all the phobias in the world on that Charlie Brown Christmas show, but that is the fear of Friday the 13th.  Besides the fact that most firings take place on Friday afternoons, what else is there that makes this day so much worse than any other day?

It's thought of as a good day in some countries, a lucky day! But in Brazil, if you hit a Friday 13 in the month of August, hold on to your hat! And why?  Because the Portuguese word for August is agosto, and that rhymes with the word for sorry (desgosto). 

A lot of the cause for people disliking Fri13 is that Judas, who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th person to show up for The Last Supper.  

That seems a bit of a stretch, considering that the very name "Judas" currently holds the 4,928th place in popularity among American babies. But it should be noted that babies don't get to choose their own names. If they did, there would be many more Floyds and Leons.

And there is also the Egyptian culture to consider. When they were prospering, ancient Egyptians thought that the 13th stage of life had to with the afterlife, so, to them, the number 13 was lucky. Then, after that civilization declined, they associated 13 with death and fear. 

I mean, go figure.  CNN reported on a British couple who bought a lottery ticket on a Friday the 13th. That paid off with a $17 million win...on the same day their mirror fell off the wall and broke.  

That's supposed to bring bad luck.  Unless you broke the window by opening your umbrella indoors.