If youâre superstitious, you probably shouldâve stayed in bed.
Not only is today Friday the 13th â a traditionally unlucky day in North American culture â but thereâll be a full moon at night, too. Itâs called a âstrawberryâ or âhoneyâ moon, and the last time it happened was Oct. 13, 2000. Itâs been 95 years since the last time it happened in the month of June, and experts donât expect another strawberry moon until Oct. 13, 2049.
So whether you shy from the number 13, youâve got an irrational fear of werewolves or that big olâ moon just makes you a little wacky, Friday is shaping up to be doubly strange.
Oh, and Mercury is in retrograde â an astrological phenomenon thatâs said to bungle up whatever long-term plans youâve got in the works.
Fear of Friday the 13th â called triskaidekaphobia â dates back thousands of years, with roots in a number of different cultural myths. The same goes for selenophobia, or fear of the full moon. Individuals with selenophobia fear that it makes people act in irrational, dangerous ways. The moon actually inspired the Latin root for the word âlunatic,â a term once used for individuals suffering from various forms of madness.
Of course, these phenomena arenât bad news for everyone. The number 13 is considered lucky in Italian and Asian cultures, and many athletes whoâve worn the number have achieved tremendous success. Hockey legends Mats Sundin and Pavel Datsyuk, basketball greats Wilt Chamberlain and Steve Nash, and football Hall-of-Famer Dan Marino all wore the number 13.
Then again, so did baseballâs Alex Rodriguez, whose otherwise top-notch MLB career has been tarnished by a lengthy suspension for steroid use.
For motorcycle enthusiasts, Friday the 13th means one thing: party. If the weatherâs good, bikers flock to Port Dover, Ont. every Friday the 13th to celebrate.
So itâs not all bad news.
But if youâre a triskaidekaphobic astrology buff, thereâs a good chance you feel like youâre surrounded by lunatics.
Sorry, because today is not your lucky day.