Tuesday the 13th and Superstitious Greeks.

Today is Friday the 13th. And such a day is considered a bad luck for most of the world. Every country, that sees this Friday as the unluckiest of days, has its own story, but today I will tell you why Greeks beg to differ and they have branded Tuesday the 13th as a bone-fide fearful day. I am Greek, and since I can remember myself, a Tuesday the 13th was the supposedly the worst day.

Tuesday the 13th is an ominous date for Greek history. Constantinople fell on the specific date. That event occured on Tuesday, April 13, 1204, to the Fourth Crusade and it was a bleak day for Hellenism. However, Tuesday May 29, 1453, was even worse as Constantinople fell again, this time to the Ottoman Empire which resulted to the Ottoman rule of 400 years across Greece.

If you just add the numbers of the year 1453 you get the full sum of 13.

Long before that, superstitious Greeks disliked the number 13 anyway. It’s that number that follows the perfection of number 12. The gods of Olumpus were 12, the months of the year are 12, the hours of the day, the hours of the night, the labors of Hercules, the zodiac signs…. Even Philip II of Macedonia died right after he erected his statue next to the 12 gods! 13 is just not a good number.

Even for Christian Greeks. The apostles were 12, not 13. Also the 13th chapter of the Revelation speaks of the coming of Antichrist.

So… you might have Friday the 13th as the unluckiest day, but for us Greeks… Tuesday the 13th is a far worse day.