One obvious origin of the Friday the 13th myth is the Bible.

   In Douglas E. Winter's book Narrow Houses, Winter writes about the Last Supper and the 13     gathered around the table.

  In John 6: 70-71, "Jesus answered them, 'have not I chosen you 12, and one of you is a devil?' He spake of Judas Iscariot for it was he that should betray him."

  It is because of the Last Supper that it is still considered bad luck to seat dinner parties in groups of 13.

  In Magic and Superstition Douglas Hill writes, "Thirteen is especially unlucky in terms of dinner parties, referring back to the Last Supper or the Norse Feast: it is believed that one of the 13 diners will die within a year."

  Friday is also the day of the crucifixion, and for that reason the day itself is considered unlucky.

  Hill continues, writing "Fear is also aroused if the 13th of the month falls on a Friday - in itself a notoriously unlucky day, largely (because of the) association with Good Friday."

  There is also an old superstition that it is unlucky to sail on a Friday.

  In Those Superstitions, Sir Charles Igglesden explains, "We all know of sailormen who considered it unlucky to sail on a Friday, but of recent years dread has been overcome by the sailing of hundreds of ships on that day."

  Igglesden continues, "But although the prejudice against the sailing of a ship on a Friday has been overcome, superstition firmly steps in when the Friday falls on the 13th day of the month."

  The old myths do not stop there. It is unlucky to turn a bed, wash blankets, shave or cut your hair, cut your nails, or do just about anything on a Friday, according to Igglesden.

  Platt also describes another reason for anti-Friday sentiment.

  "The fish was an emblem of Freyja, and as such was associated with the worship of Love. It was offered by the Scandinavians to their goddess, on the sixth day of the week, i.e., Friday. Unfortunately this worship of Love on the Friday of each week gradually developed - or degenerated - into a series of filthy and indecent rites and practices."

  So the reasons, historically, for fears about Friday and the number 13 are many, but perhaps people are starting to give up on superstition.

  A  familiar face, however, seems to embrace the number 13.

  George Washington.

  American currency, at least on the one-dollar bill, on the side opposite Washington's bust, there is a pyramid with 13 steps, an American Bald Eagle holding 13 arrows in one talon, and an olive branch with 13 leaves and 13 berries in the other talon.

  There are those who would say the design is a reference to the original 13 colonies, like Henry Morgenthau, Jr., who was secretary of the treasury at the time, according to "Treasury of Superstitions" by Claudia De Lys.

      Fridays, for example, are hailed as a particularly significant day in the Christian    tradition. Obviously, there is Good Friday, the day Jesus Christ was crucified.         But according to Christian lore, Adam and Eve also supposedly ate the              forbidden fruit on a Friday, the Great Flood started on a Friday, the builders of the Tower of Babel were tongue-tied on a Friday and the Temple of Solomon was destroyed on a Friday.

     Of course, the Bible doesn't specifically note many these events occurring on Fridays, and Emery explains some of the tradition may have stemmed from the fact that pre-Christian pagan cultures hailed Friday as holy days. The word "Friday" is, in fact, derived from a Norse deity who was worshipped on the sixth day of the week and who represented marriage and fertility. Fridays in the early Norse culture were associated with love and considered a good day for weddings.

     Over time, however, mythology transformed the Norse fertility goddess into a witch, and Fridays became an unholy Sabbath. Incidentally, the goddess' sacred animal was a cat, which may explain the legendary connection between witches and cats, as well as the superstition about black cats heralding bad luck.