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FRIDAY 13TH- 10 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW

In Spain and Greece Tuesday the 13th is unlucky

Friday August 13,2010

By Daily Express Reporter

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Today is Friday the 13th, traditionally a day of bad luck. But is it really unlucky, and if so, why?

1. It is a curious quirk of the Gregorian calendar that the 13th of the month is more likely to fall on a Friday than any other day of the week.

2. In fact, in any 400-year period, there are 685 Monday the 13ths, 685 Tuesdays, 687 Wednesdays, 684 Thursdays, 688 Fridays, 684 Saturdays and 687 Sundays.

3. In Spain and Greece, they consider Tuesday the 13th to be unlucky.

4. Fear of Friday the 13th is known as paraskevidekatriaphobia.

5. The number 13 has been viewed as unlucky since ancient times and Friday has been seen as inauspicious since the 14th century.

6. Yet Friday the 13th was never seen as specially scary before the middle of the 19th century.

7. Four of the 12 Friday the 13th films were released on Friday the 13th.

8. Finnish researchers in 2004 claimed that men are no more likely to die in traffic accidents on Friday the 13th than on other Fridays…

9. …but Finnish women have a two-thirds greater chance of getting killed in a Friday the 13th crash.

10. There is always at least one and at most three Friday the 13ths in any year.