It's Friday the 13th, Relax, It's Not That Bad

(CNN) -- Eek! It's Friday the 13th, and that means we're all in for a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, right?

Not necessarily.

Let's delve deeper into this most hated of days and find out if there's really a cause for your paraskavedekatriaphobia (try saying that a couple of times).

It's only bad if you're into Dan Brown-style symbolism
The folks who study folklore will tell you this whole thing may be rooted in religion. To wit: Christianity. Jesus was apparently crucified on a Friday. And the 13th person at his final meal (aka the Last Supper) was that traitor, Judas. Friday+13 = GASP!

It's not even universally dreaded ...
Not everyone's freaked out by 13, cause they've got other numbers to worry about.

In China, for instance, the dreaded number is 4, because it sounds like the Chinese word for death.

In Japan, it's also four (again, death) and the number nine (sounds like the Japanese word for pain and suffering).

Yeah, bad things have happened on this day ...
The Costa Concordia sank. Tupac died. The stock market crashed.

... but so did a ton of good things
Bad stuff happens every day. Think of all the good things Friday the 13th has brung:

Heavy metal was born. So was Alfred Hitchcock (now there's a guy who understood fear).

The Hollywood sign was unveiled. And Hollywood made a killing with the "Friday the 13th" franchise (A 13th one is in the works)

And best of all, it was also on this day that President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order saying 'Enough with the gender discrimination.'

And the best thing about Friday the 13th?
We're one step closer to the weekend.

The-CNN-Wire
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