13 More Friday the 13th Superstitions to Improve Your Luck
Afraid of Friday the 13th? Try these tips to ward off bad luck.
Quick Reference: Friday the 13th Superstitions at a Glance
- Why Friday the 13th: Friday and the number 13 each carry old folk dread (the Last Supper, Norse Loki at the dinner table, Christian Good Friday). When they line up, the bad-luck folklore doubles up.
- How often it happens: at least once, sometimes three times, every year. There can be no year without one.
- Folk fix: ward off the bad luck with one or more of the 13 small household rituals below.
- Easiest to remember: hang an iron horseshoe ends-up, do not open an umbrella indoors, do not put a hat on a bed.
- Hardest to keep: wait until Saturday to cut your nails, button up carefully, get out of bed on the same side you got in.
- What this is not: a science article. Folk superstition, recorded for the next time the calendar gangs up on you.
If you have read our 13 Ways to Improve Your Luck This Friday the 13th, you may be looking for more. Here are 13 more Friday the 13th superstitions for warding off bad luck, breaking small curses, and keeping the household on the right side of the day. Some are practical (do not lie on the table). Some are pure folklore (do not throw stones in the sea). All of them have at least one foot in an old country household.
For background on why the date itself carries dread, see Encyclopaedia Britannica’s entry on Friday the 13th and the origins of the superstition.
13 More Friday the 13th Superstitions
1. Find a horseshoe and hang it up. Horseshoes are a symbol of good luck. Iron, which horseshoes are often made of, was once believed to protect the life force and ward off evil spirits. Be sure to hang it with the ends facing upward, though, or the good luck will “run out.” In some Irish households the shoe was nailed above the doorway so it would catch the luck of every visitor who walked beneath it.
2. Turn seven times, clockwise. This was said to ward off evil and break curses. Seven, the number of completion in many folk traditions, is matched with clockwise (sunwise) motion, which is the direction associated with “with-the-grain” rather than against it.
3. Use your table manners. Do not sing at the table, lie down on it, sit on it without at least one foot touching the floor, or set shoes on it. Lying on a table mimics death (a body laid out for the wake), so it is easy to see how that came about, and no one wants to eat off a table some dirty shoes were just on, anyway.
4. Protect your mirrors. It is a well-known superstition that breaking a mirror will bring you seven years of bad luck. Less widespread is the caveat that you can avoid this fate by taking the broken pieces outside and burying them in moonlight. The mirror was thought to reflect a sliver of the soul; burying the shards returned the piece to the earth.
5. Do not open an umbrella in the house. No one knows exactly why this is considered bad luck, but one school of thought is that the protective spirits in your home will take it as an insult and leave (because you felt the need for extra protection, from the umbrella, instead of trusting them). A practical theory blames Victorian umbrellas with stiff metal frames, which were apparently a hazard in a small parlor.
6. Do not drop a dishcloth. And, for heaven’s sake, if you do, do not wash anything with it afterward. The dropped dishcloth was said to invite a stranger (welcome or not) and to carry whatever ill-fortune the floor had picked up that day.
7. Wake up on the correct side of the bed. It is considered bad luck to get out of bed on the opposite side from where you got in. It is also bad luck to put your left foot down first. (“Got out of the wrong side of the bed” comes straight from this superstition.)
8. Do not cut your nails. Cutting your nails on Fridays is bad luck, and doubly so on Friday the 13th. This comes from an old poem:
Cut them on Monday, you cut them for health;
cut them on Tuesday, you cut them for wealth;
cut them on Wednesday, you cut them for news;
cut them on Thursday, a new pair of shoes;
cut them on Friday, you cut them for sorrow;
cut them on Saturday, see your true love tomorrow;
cut them on Sunday, the devil will be with you all the week.
9. Do not rock an empty rocking chair. Doing so is said to invite evil spirits to come in and sit in the chair. A version of this superstition holds that even a draft setting the chair in motion is enough to “wake” the room.
10. Never place a hat on a bed. Many different cultures share some version of this warning. Like many superstitions, it may have come about due to an association with death (a deceased person’s hat is often laid on his or her chest or feet). Others suggest the rule grew up to prevent the spread of head lice from outside the home to the place you sleep.
11. Be careful getting dressed. If you fasten a button into the wrong buttonhole, you will have bad luck (especially if you do not notice it before leaving the house). The fix is to undo the entire row of buttons, take the garment off, then put it back on the correct way, the small ritual of starting over.
12. Do not throw stones into the sea. Old mariners once believed doing so would cause deadly waves and storms. The same crews avoided whistling on deck, naming a rabbit, or sailing on a Friday at all, all of which were thought to call up wind from the wrong quarter.
13. Keep your shoes on the right feet. Putting on your left shoe before the right is considered bad luck, and it is even worse luck to put the right shoe on the left foot, or vice versa. The right-then-left ritual shows up in Roman, English, and German folk traditions, all of them attached to the day’s first deliberate act.
Friday the 13th Superstitions, by Category
| Where the fear came from | The rule | The folk fix |
|---|---|---|
| Death imagery | Do not lie on the table, place a hat on a bed | Sit upright; hang the hat on the back of a chair |
| Reflected soul | Do not break a mirror | Bury the shards outside, in moonlight |
| Offended household spirits | Do not open an umbrella indoors | Open it on the porch or step |
| Witching numbers and motion | Turn 7 times clockwise to break a curse | Slow, deliberate, on the threshold |
| Mariner weather lore | Do not throw stones into the sea, do not whistle on deck | Let the sea alone; bring a horseshoe aboard |
| Calendar weekday lore | Cut nails on Saturday, not Friday | Trim on Saturday for “see your true love tomorrow” |
| Order-of-acts lore | Right shoe first, right foot out of bed first | Reset by putting everything back the way it was |
Friday the 13th Superstitions FAQ
Why are Friday the 13th superstitions a thing?
Friday and the number 13 each carry their own old dread. The number 13 was associated with the Last Supper (Judas being the 13th guest) and with a Norse banquet at which Loki was the 13th and uninvited diner. Friday was Good Friday in Christian tradition, and was considered the day Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden. When the two line up, the folk dread doubles up. The combination Friday the 13th became culturally fixed in 19th-century Europe and America.
How often does Friday the 13th happen?
Every calendar year contains at least one Friday the 13th, and can contain as many as three. On average over the long run, the 13th of any month is slightly more likely to fall on a Friday than on any other day of the week, a curious quirk of the Gregorian calendar’s 400-year cycle.
Why hang a horseshoe ends-up?
Hung with the ends pointing up, the horseshoe is said to “hold” the luck like a cup. Hung with the ends pointing down, the luck spills out. There is a counter-tradition (mainly in southern England and parts of the American South) in which the shoe is hung ends-down on purpose so the luck pours out onto whoever walks beneath it. Pick the version your grandmother used.
What is paraskevidekatriaphobia?
Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the clinical-sounding term for fear of Friday the 13th specifically. (Fear of the number 13 alone is triskaidekaphobia.) Sufferers may avoid travel, signing contracts, scheduling surgery, or moving house on the date.
What if I broke a mirror on Friday the 13th?
The folk fix is to take the broken pieces outside and bury them, by moonlight if you can manage it, returning the reflected sliver of soul to the earth. If you cannot get out for a moon-lit burial, sweep the shards into a container, take them outside, and dispose of them away from the threshold of the house. The seven-years bad luck rule is, of course, folklore.
Are there Friday the 13th lucky traditions?
Yes. Several cultures treat 13 as a lucky number, not unlucky: in Italy, 17 is the dreaded number, not 13. In some pagan and goddess-centered traditions, 13 is associated with lunar cycles (roughly 13 full moons per solar year) and treated as a number of completion. Treating Friday the 13th as a lucky day, deliberately and ritually, is itself a long folk tradition.
Should I plan anything important on Friday the 13th?
If the date does not bother you, no reason not to. Many businesses report quieter Friday the 13ths (fewer flights booked, fewer real-estate closings), which can actually make it a good day to travel, move, or close on a house if you are the kind of person who likes a quieter calendar.
For more folklore of the season, see our pieces on New Year’s superstitions and traditions, the legends and lore of Valentine’s Day, and mistletoe meaning and lore. The same household muscle (small rituals, repeated) runs through all of them.
Jaime McLeod
Jaime McLeod is a longtime journalist who has written for a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including MTV.com. She enjoys the outdoors, growing and eating organic food, and is interested in all aspects of natural wellness.
- Jaime McLeod
- Jaime McLeod
- Jaime McLeod
- Jaime McLeod
Thank you. I truly enjoyed these.
I am an Italian & a new yorker I don’t know which makes my upbringing so knowledgeable of wives tales
Never put a purse on a table. You will loose money. Shoes must never be put on a bed.. Never show a baby their reflection in a mirror. Kneed bread dough while saying the “Our Father” If your Christmas tree falls down once it is decorated: it won’t be put up next year for someone in your family will die..When you wash dishes make sure you don’t get your apron wet: you will marry a drunken sailor.
my mom always said if you knock over a salt shaker you have to toss salt over your left shoulder to ward off bad luck.
“Don’t drop a dishcloth — And, for heavens’ sake, if you do, don’t wash anything with it afterward!”
What is the meaning of this saying?
Singing at the table, whistling in the bed, the devil’s gonna get’cha by the hair of the head!!!
My dad would carry a buckeye his parents taught him. He took it to WWII. And made it back
Mom always said “put your left shoe on first, to avoid toothache”
“Don’t sing at the dinner table” My mom and aunts always said….”don’t sing at the table or you’ll marry a drunken sailor”!
Many of these isms I learned as a child. I am passing them to my friends who fear Friday the 13th.