Happy Friday! (-the-13th)

In a year where we need all the luck we can get, we have three Friday the 13ths, the most possible in a twelve-month period. Could this be a sign of things to come...? I resisted blogging about this in February's Friday-the-13th edition, but we have to face our fears and address this most despicable of days (OK, maybe it's not that bad).

While there are some of us who do take this date very seriously, most have at least a light trepidation, or a healthy fear, with their own theories of the legend's origins. Let's take a look at some theories and you can make up your own minds:

According to Wikipedia - The actual origin of the superstition appears to be a tale in Norse mythology. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga (the source of the name Fridya and the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility) was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil - a gathering of thirteen - and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week. For many centuries in Scandinavia, Friday was known as "Witches' Sabbath."

Another theory about the origin of the superstition traces the event to the arrest of the legendary Knights Templar. According to one expert: The Knights Templar were a monastic military order founded in Jerusalem in 1118 C.E., whose mission was to protect Christian pilgrims during the Crusades. Over the next two centuries, the Knights Templar became extraordinarily powerful and wealthy. Threatened by that power and eager to acquire their wealth, King Philip secretly ordered the mass arrest of all the Knights Templar in France on Friday, October 13, 1307 - Friday the 13th.

A seemingly odd, but quite obvious coincidence (once you think about it) about Friday-the-13th is that they are among the safest days of the year. Fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays, because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home.

Hence, I can finally tie a purportedly unsafe day superstition back into the mission of a very safety-conscious and support-oriented organization and wish you all a very safe, uneventful, and HAPPY FRIDAY! (-the-13th).