It's Friday the 13th and I wonder
how the superstition got started.
I'd always thought it was because
there were thirteen diners at the
Last Supper but I recently saw a
a documentary about the Knights
Templar according to which
King Philip of France mounted
a ruthlessly efficient surprise
attack on the Templars
and tortured them until they
confessed they were heretics,
gnostics. This happened on
a Friday the 13th in the 14th
century, and ever since it's been
an unlucky day to be caught
in a storm or shoplifting or in bed
with a person other than your mate
or just crossing the street before
looking both ways in New York
where, from one point of view,
it's always Friday the 13th
how the superstition got started.
I'd always thought it was because
there were thirteen diners at the
Last Supper but I recently saw a
a documentary about the Knights
Templar according to which
King Philip of France mounted
a ruthlessly efficient surprise
attack on the Templars
and tortured them until they
confessed they were heretics,
gnostics. This happened on
a Friday the 13th in the 14th
century, and ever since it's been
an unlucky day to be caught
in a storm or shoplifting or in bed
with a person other than your mate
or just crossing the street before
looking both ways in New York
where, from one point of view,
it's always Friday the 13th
-- David Lehman
from The Daily Mirror (Scribner, 2000)
