FRIDAY THE 13TH

 

Happy Friday the 13th! 

Except is it happy?

There are stories throughout history and in several cultures that talk about the number 13 as being unlucky and how it's even more unlucky when the date falls on a Friday. 

Where do these come from?

One depiction of 13 as an unlucky number comes from Christian mythology in The Last Supper when the 13th guest was Judas who later betrayed Jesus. In another from Norse mythology the number 13 becomes unlucky when Loki crashes a party, bringing the number of gods to 13. 

Friday is considered especially unlucky according to the Christian Bible with it being the day that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, the day that Cain murdered Abel, Noah's flood beginning, and the toppling of the Temple of Solomon. 

However it wasn't until the 19th century that Friday the 13th became the harbinger of unlucky lore that it is today, and if we dig further we find that both the number 13 and Friday are said to be lucky and even blessed days. These days and numbers are often associated with the divine feminine in many cultures. So is it misogyny that has rooted them in bad luck?

Whatever you believe I hope that today is beautiful for you. 

Folklore Friday: Folktales, Fairytales, Folklore, and Mythology Oh My!

 

With all of these terms floating around it's hard to know what each one means and if you ask a hundred people then you'll likely get a hundred different answers. 

From a literature perspective, which is where I come from these things have definitions. However, I find that often times folklorists do not include themselves under the literary umbrella. 

In literature, all of these things fall under the main umbrella of literature. But they vary slightly in what their primary purpose is. 

Folklore is the overarching broad category that encompasses mythology, folktales, fairytales, legends, and tall tales.

In the genre of Mythology, the cast is often gods and goddesses while also containing an explanation for a natural phenomenon most of the time. Religions are mythologies with the pantheon accounting for creation of things in nature on and on Earth. 

Folktales are largely an oral tradition that scholars are seeking to put in written form so that they are not lost. These are often rooted in historical reality. 

Fairytales are a genre of folklore that is a magical story usually with a poor heroine or hero that goes through a trial or testing period in exchange for an eventual good fortune. 

Legends are another genre of folklore that revolve around human actions rather than gods and goddesses that appear in myths. Legends are often questioned as to whether or not they actually happened and if they are grounded in reality and history. This characteristic is called verisimilitude. 

Finally, we have tall tales. Tall Tales feature a human with exaggerated superhuman characteristics. This person usually completes an impossible task. 

These are all a part of literature and the subcategory of folklore within the literary world. Literature does encompass more than standard literary works to include oral traditions which I think can be confusing to those who have not studied literature extensively or at the graduate level. 

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Folklore Friday: Walt Disney

If you have lived in Florida, then you've likely heard at some point that either the whole body or the head of Walt Disney had been cryogenically frozen. The story also has gone viral on the internet a time or two. 

Spoiler alert: it has not. 

But this conspiracy theory (legend) has been in circulation since shortly after his death in 1966. The rumor was that in December of 2021 he would be thawed and brought back to life. 

There have been claims that the body was under the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disney World. Sorry to say that this imagineer was cremated and laid to rest at a cemetery.

This story falls under the umbrella of folklore as a legend. A legend is a story that is regarded as historically true but is unauthenticated. These stories often use real figures as a part of their tale.  

 

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Folklore Friday: Florida Folklore Locations

 

In Florida, there are multiple locations with varying reputations of hauntedness or just overall weird vibes. These are super fun places to visit and see what the attraction to them is all about. 

All of these places center around Urban Legends, which as you remember from the introduction to Folklore Friday posts is a type of modern folklore where stories circulate as true and the basis is that a "friend of a friend" experienced this. 

I'm going to share a few of my favorites here! And if you're ever way down South in the swamps, you should definitely check them out!

The Devil's Chair

In the psychic capital of the world, Cassadaga, there is a Devil's Chair. This is a brick bench that legend claims was built by the devil himself. The spectacular thing is that if you leave a can of unopened beer on the bench and return in the morning it will be completely empty without being opened! Because the devil loves themselves a good canned beer. 

Captain Tony's Saloon

(formerly Sloppy Joe's)

In Key West, there is a bar built around a tree! Over the years this building has been many things including a cigar making factory, a telegraph station...and a morgue. Rumor has it that the morgue was built around the tree where pirates were often hanged. It's also rumored to be built on top of a pond of holy water. In the 1980's when the floor was replaced workers found over a dozen skeletons beneath the floor. If you visit here be sure to listen for ghostly voices, and watch for doors opening and closing and locking on their own.

Sunshine Skyway Ghost

This is a bridge that terrifies me! I'm scared of bridges that go over water anyway, but this one is extra tall and extra scary as it's fallen once and over 300 people have jumped to their death on this bridge. Some people claim to have seen a blonde woman on the bridge, and when they pick up this ghostly hitchhiker she begins to cry as the car approaches the highest point of the bridge then disappears.

The Fairchild Oak

Besides being just an absolute wonder of nature, this huge oak tree which is decorated with Spanish Moss is rumored to be the site of two completed suicides. People say when you stand under the grand lush oak you feel an intense sadness, almost as though the spirits of the ghosts are plaguing the area. Some also say you can see their apparitions on the right time and on the right night.

I hope y'all enjoyed this week's Folklore Friday! Remember to follow along on social media and on the blog so you don't miss a thing! 

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Folklore Friday: Lovebugs

 

As a native Floridian, I decided to tackle a local Florida based folklore. This one is defined as an urban legend. 

Urban Legends are a genre of folklore that are defined as being stories that are circulated as truth. They often have humorous, cautionary, or horrifying elements. Often times someone claims that a friend of a friend or family member actually experienced this or was a part of it. They often cannot be traced back to a single origin.  

Legend has it that love bugs (pictured) were created as part of a University of Florida genetics experiment gone awry. Supposedly these little bugs were created to control the mosquito population. 

I remember hearing the reason behind these bugs growing up. Although it seems that no one can quite remember where or when exactly it started. 

Lovebugs are actually a type of fly that researchers first identified in the 1940s in Texas. They then migrated along the Gulf coast. I've attached an article for your reading pleasure. 

If you're from Florida or one of the Gulf states I'm sure you've experienced love bug season, and you've had the displeasure of removing hoards of love bugs off your vehicle. However, when they are in their immature stage they are actually quite beneficial for the environment as they eat the excess cuttings from grass and foliage then process it to redistribute nutrients back into the soil. 

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Folklore Friday

 

I wanted to start a new series on the blog to coincide with my upcoming doctoral things. I'm narrowing down my dissertation interests, and one of them that I have narrowed in on is folklore, specifically narrative folklore and how it relates to modern media. Soooo, I thought wouldn't it be fun to do a Folklore Friday series on the blog? 

Let me preface that I am solely focusing on Folklore as a genre as defined in Literature. This would be that folklore encompasses legends, myths, fairy tales, tall tales, and fables. I am also subscribing to the personal narrative as a modern form of folklore, so that would include things like this blog, vlogs, and whatever else is a personal narrative. 

I will be respectful to the origins of these stories, and I will provide links at the bottom of all blogs that reference specific things, but I will not be citing within the text as I don't want to make it overly academic. I want it to be accessible and fun as we all learn more about these topics. 

If you have any ideas of folklore you want me to research and explore please hit me up on my social media! You can find all my links by clicking here.