When we hear of an upcoming “Friday the 13th,” we mostly talk in jest about the supposed unluckiness of the day. However, are such superstitions as silly as many think they are? In honor of Friday, May 13, we collected campus opinions on superstitions and their viability.
Thankfully, most members of the Choate community seem to have been spared from the fate of a bad Friday the 13th — at least up until now. Mirialie DeJesus ’18 acknowledges her experiences have always been “quite mellow and boring.” In fact, for Grayce Gibbs ’18, “Thirteen has always been a lucky number in my family,” a belief that originated with her grandparents.
Unfortunate incidents have occurred, however. A few years ago on Friday the 13th, Ms. Amy Foster fell down and broke her arm when walking her hyperactive dog. “Now, I always think of Friday the 13th in a bad light,” Ms. Foster said. However, she emphasized that she does not consider herself superstitious.
What’s so unlucky about the date, anyway? According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute, Friday the 13th is the most feared date in history and discomfits between 17 and 21 million people in the United States alone. This seemingly random fear may stem from the Biblical story of the Last Supper, at which 13 disciples dined with Jesus on the night prior to the day of Jesus’s death, Good Friday. As a result, both the number 13 and the day Friday became considered to be unlucky, although the actual date Friday the 13th only came to be ominous in the nineteenth century. The publication of Thomas W. Lawson’s novel Friday the Thirteenth may have also influenced the phenomenon.
Many at Choate spurn the idea of superstitions. Annabelle Strong ’19 does not think actions have “mystical repercussions,” and she attributes the occurrence of most events to “science and logical reasoning.” Others also expressed their desire to stick with scientific concreteness. According to Saleha Farooqui ’18, “Superstitions do not make sense.” She believes it is impossible to believe both in the supernatural and be pragmatic.
Despite our personal convictions, however, we must also recognize the potential validity of differing opinions. As Casey Davis ’16 added, “I am fine with other people being superstitious, but personally, I am not.”
Two other students offered a different perspective. DeJesus does not consider herself particularly superstitious but expressed that she is “cautious about things that might threaten her safety in the spiritual world.” For example, DeJesus forbade her roommate from playing with a Ouija Board in their room because she did not want to risk any ghosts or spirits entering the room or haunting her. She believes that a spiritual world exists, as “some greater power must be controlling the universe.”
Though Powell does not believe in “silly” superstitions such as stepping on the cracks or mirrors shattering, she does recognize one chain of unfortunate events. Powell shared, “Ever since my grandfather died on Thanksgiving, it has been an unlucky day.” On one Thanksgiving, a napkin caught on fire; on another, a leak started in her house; during yet another, her brother got a concussion.
Although many of the interviewees claimed not to be superstitious, most admitted to believing in some personal rituals and theories relating to unluckiness. Kevin Shen ’17 said, “If you want something to happen, you cannot express it aloud, or else you might jinx it.” Sometimes, stereotypical superstitions are so ingrained in popular culture that we follow them subconsciously. English teacher Mr. Tyren Bynum stated that though he is not superstitious, he still “has some irrational and impractical ways of acting.” For example, he refuses to “split poles” — when walking with a group, it is considered bad luck to walk on different sides of obstacles such as poles — not out of fear that something bad will happen but out of habit.
From lucky pencils to specific test taking rituals to knocking on wood, we probably each have something not rooted in scientific reasoning but we practice regardless.Though the Choate community will likely not be in a state of terror this Friday the 13th, the topic of superstition has more nuance than meets the eye.After all, dogmatic and open-minded thinking may not be mutually exclusive.
