Friday 13th is known as an eerie day when you have to be on your guard. But should you stay at home with all the doors locked or carry on as normal?

Friday 13th. Are you afraid? I know I was slightly more careful crossing this morning and double-checked the oven before I left for work. You know it was on Friday 13th when a Uruguayan plane tragically crashed in the Andes, which the Ethan Hawke film, Alive, was based on... the one where they eat each other.
 
This day doesn’t just give you the willies - there’s an actual name for the phobia: paraskavedekatriaphobia. Fear of the number 13 is practically everywhere you look. Many roads do not have a number 13, many hotels have no 13th floor, planes often skip a 13th aisle and hospitals avoid having a ward 13. When this kind of fear is so widespread is it any wonder we are a bit apprehensive when Friday 13th comes round?
 
On the other hand, is it just a day when we create our own misfortune by expecting it? The same way you have to put your desire, belief and intent into a spell to make it successful, you can put your fear and suspicion out to the universe to create your own experiences.
 
I managed to spill my lunch on the floor today and my first thought was ‘That’s Friday 13th for you!’ But actually I remember this particular incident because it happened on Friday 13th. If it happened any other day I would have dismissed it as my own innate clumsiness.
 
In actual fact I think that we believe in superstitions as they are not clear-cut and are led by a desire to believe in something ‘other’ and unexplained. It’s the magical part of our nature welcoming these bizarre superstitions to make life more interesting, rather than having everything explained by facts. Now I enjoy the fact that I never walk under ladders, under no circumstances open an umbrella inside and quake in fear for the 24 hours that are Friday 13th.