Friday, the last day of the work and school week is frequently thought of as a glorious day – the start of the weekend and endless possibilities that don’t exist during the week.

However, when the Friday approaching is Friday the 13, excitement might exchange itself for fear.

There’s no way of knowing when the fear and superstition surrounding the day began, said Esther Clinton, a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Popular Culture.

“Friday has always been an unlucky day,” Clinton said.

However, the day of the week alone isn’t what makes Friday the 13 something that attracts superstition and fear.

“Thirteen is just a weird number,” Clinton said. “And the two combined are extra bad.”

The number is prime, which means it is only divisible by itself or one.

“It’s just mathematically weird,” Clinton said.

The bad connotation surrounding the number may have origins in religion.

“There were 13 people at the last supper before Christ was betrayed, and it’s been considered an unlucky number since then,” Clinton said.

It is also considered unlucky for 13 people to sit down at a table together, in the U.S. and Europe, Clinton said.

“If there were 13 members in an extended family, they would invite a servant to dinner so there weren’t 13 people sitting down to dinner,” Clinton said.

This may not be the true origin of the number’s unlucky label, but Clinton said there is no way of knowing when the label began.

The history of the day can make people suspicious.

“People worry about dangerous things happening that day,” Clinton said. “You hear people say they shouldn’t leave the house.”

Sophomore Tiffany Suscheck doesn’t believe the day causes bad luck.

“I don’t believe days make bad things happen,” Suscheck said. “I believe in karma; karma makes bad things happen.”

Senior Chris Tressler agreed.

“Having superstitions about a number is just kind of odd to me,” Tressler said.

Despite the fact that some people don’t have superstitions about the day or the number, history leans toward them both causing bad luck. Clinton teaches a folklore class at the University and spends two days on superstition.

“Superstition I think is often about trying to understand cause and effect,” Clinton said. “Superstition is rarely, if ever, scientifically verifiable.”

Superstition about the day may not be verifiable, but it doesn’t stop people from blaming bad luck on the day.

“Once people decided it was unlucky, they started to notice when bad things happened and connect the day and the bad thing,” Clinton said.