Friday the 13th Weddings
It can hardly have escaped your notice that today is Friday, 13th November.
I wonder how many people will tie the knot today?
According to the Daily Mail three years ago, Michelle Moore and Daniel Joyce chose to do so. They may have regretted their choice, as the marquee collapsed in torrential rain on the eve of the wedding.
They managed to find another venue, but after the service, a three-month-old girl was rushed to hospital following a severe allergic reaction, possibly caused by chemical spray on the wedding flowers. (Fortunately, she recovered quite swiftly.)
Finally, an amplifier on the dance floor started to smoke. At least, no evacuation was needed and another amplifier was found.
Not ideal, perhaps, but, apparently, an amazing time was had by all. But had they been jinxed?
Fridays
Friday has had a bad reputation in public consciousness for quite some time. Certainly, “The Canterbury Tales” was not alone in medieval times in considering that Friday was an unlucky day to undertake journeys or start new projects.
Black Friday has been associated with Stock Market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s.
Thirteen
Thirteen has long been considered unlucky. Numerologists class it as “irregular” and “incomplete”. Because there were 13 at the Last Supper, Christians have frowned upon it. There’s even a Norse myth that claims that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of them.
Friday, the 13th
Perhaps surprisingly, given the above, the combination of Friday and the 13th has only been considered inauspicious since the 20th century following the publication in 1907 of a novel by Thomas W. Lawson called “Friday the 13th”. This tells of a Wall Street panic on that day.
The date became ill-starred thereafter (as underlined in the blockbuster “Da Vinci Code” of 2003). Hence, probably not a favourite date for arranging a wedding nowadays!
But is all this just superstitious claptrap – or could there be something in it?
What do you think? Would YOU tie the knot on Friday the 13th?!
If so, then please be aware that, as a civil celebrant, I’d be quite happy to officiate on such a day.