Colm O'Regan: Fear of Friday the 13th? Meet 'friggaheptadekaphobia' — fear of Friday the 17th

Fear of Friday the 13th is relatively new. We’ve actually been iffy about Fridays for far longer than 13s. File picture

Once is unfortunate, twice is foolishness. Three times? You get used to it. 

You’ll definitely hear the word “friggatriskaidekaphobia” — the fear of Friday the 13th — in 2026. We have three of the hoors this year and today is the second. I’m immune. I’ve had my vaccination.

A car door closed on the trailing end of a long coat (that I didn’t need to bring), containing a phone (I could have put in any other pocket) that had slipped through into the lining (because of a hole in the pocket I had meant to fix but didn’t).

So now I have a black hole in the middle of my phone. Apparently, I may have contracted confractophobia — a new word meaning fear of broken device screens. So I’ve faced down two fears this week. I’ll be opening up about it on a mental health podcast near you.

This year, like all non-leap years where January 1 is a Thursday, we have three Fridays the 13th. The Friday 13th of the St Patrick’s Day bank holiday-ish weekend is just one for being careful on the road.

The final one is November. Given that’s the month of the Holy Souls, I’d avoid annoying the fairies that day.

Fear of Friday the 13th is relatively new. We’ve actually been iffy about Fridays for far longer than 13s. Friday was the date of the crucifixion. Some reckon that Noah’s flood started of a Friday. “Fierce wet day,” my father would have written in his diary.

Others maintain that Friday was the day Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden of Eden and Cain killed Abel. The list goes on — probably because people keep claiming without evidence that these were Fridays.

Days of the week are not mentioned in the Bible. I’m sure happy stuff happened too on a Friday. King David smiting some unfortunate tribe and stealing their wives, which counts as happy stuff in the Old Testament.

Thirteen has been good and bad. Some say that it’s from Viking times when Loki, the one played by Tom Hiddleston, killed a nice god, Baldur (Odin’s son; he wasn’t in the Marvel films). 

Loki gate-crashed a god party meant for 12 gods, tricked Baldur’s blind brother Hodor into hurling a mistletoe-based spear at Baldur, who was allergic to mistletoe. There is talk about it coming from Judas being the 13th attendee at the Last Supper, but that’s not definite.

Friday the 13th alternatives

If you find that your unlucky days have snuck up on you without warning, and you prefer the continental way of life, maybe drop Friday the 13th altogether.

Let Friday, April 17, be your next unlucky day. In Italy, the number 17 is considered bad.

Friggatriskadekaphobia is so last month. You need to meet “friggaheptadekaphobia”: Fear of Friday the 17th.

Apparently, it may stem from 17 being hated in classical times by Pythagoreans — the triangle people — because, as a number, it disrupted their harmony and pleasing shapes, unlike its neighbours 16 and 18.

The other explanation says that in Ancient Rome, written in Roman numerals, 17 is XVII. If you rearrange these letters, you get the Latin word “VIXI,” which means “I lived” and implies death.

I’m not saying this is a load of oul shite, but often, this is exactly the kind of convoluted explanation that turns out to be a load of oul shite. However, it’s considered bad luck to fact-check a superstition, so I’ll just leave it there.

If you want to get your bad luck out of the way early in the week but later in the year, go to Spain. They fear Tuesday the 13th. Martes is named after Mars, the God of War, so it’s just a messy day all round.

The next one is October. Book now to avoid disappointment.