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Carl - there are many theories on the origin of Friday the 13th, the most popular one is that the last supper was on a Friday. There were 13 people seated at the table, and Judas Iscariot was the last to sit down. And of course, he pays for it by accompanying Satan in the last circle of hell (according to Dante's Inferno of course).
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That's one of the populist ideas about Friday 13th...but it's one that is promulgated by people who actually don't know the real story behind the day. Since in order to know, they'd have to have some knowledge of history and most people don't.
Oh, BTW...Judas "Iscariot"....no such person. Yes, there was a person named Judas, who was present at the Last Supper, but that wasn't his last name. "Iscariot" is not even Hebrew, or any other name in any language. It's actually a corruption of a translation of the Hebrew to Greek (which was a mistranslation to begin with), then later into English and such. "Iscariot" is actually what he was....a Sicarii, a zealot assassin. They took their name from the Roman name for the knives that they used to assassinate their opponents (namely Roman soldiers, officials and citizens). It's a curve bladed knife and very sharp. The Sicarii were, in effect, terrorists and were treated as such by the Romans and their Jewish flunkies. They were also looked upon as such by many of the Jewish Temple priesthood, especially those that owed Rome a favour or didn't like their tactics. They were also known to be available for hire, and weren't squeamish about thieving off those they were asked to assassinate.
The communal group that committed suicide at Masada, in 74AD, were Sicarii and their families.