Is Friday the thirteen really an unlucky day?

          Do you remember as a child when they'd tell you there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Or that an apple a day kept the doctor away? These are all alleyways leading down to superstition. Superstition is defined as excessively credulous belief in and reverence for supernatural beings. So what really are some of the types of superstitions that as human beings we have because of what we've grown up with? I remember my mom telling me not to open the umbrella in the house, or that out cat Kiki had nine lives. Superstition has become part of our way of life, and developed into a way that we analyze certain situations. We tend to lead off into this whole other realm when thinking about superstitions, and yet you question if that's something you'd even believe in.

        In accordance to Encyclopedia.com the ancient Greeks referred to superstition as deisidaimonia, which was the fear of spirits or demons. Originally the term was looked at positively until the fourth century when a character named Theophrastus began to create rituals to ward off gods, he wasn't able to live his life out normally. The Romans looked at superstition as a way of negativity, meaning that they thought that it was the opposite of religion. Every different group of people looked at what superstition was differently, although it was mostly looked at by being negative, positive relations started developing throughout the years, and finally reached the 21st century where a lot of these superstitions are now intact and mostly referred to in a positive demeanor. According to data from a National Geographic article, "Are You Superstitious? Facts." people became less superstitious as they aged. 59% of people ages  11-15 said they were superstitious which compared to 44% of adults aged 31-40 saying they were not superstitious. Maybe it is your maturity and your level of belief that changes these kinds of thoughts, but what triggers superstitions? Are they childhood memories? Is there times where it is just downright luck? Maybe it is just crossing your fingers as you "swear" to not tell anyone or maybe its finding a patch of clovers and trying to find the four leafed one for good luck. There are times where superstition is used inevitably, to do certain tasks throughout your die. I knows for a fact that I've crossed my fingers before a test or even been a little more edgy when it actually is Friday the 13th.
          It could just be the whole sanction given to this day of bad luck that you just start thinking in that way so you end up committing more mistakes, failing at something that could lead you to think that Friday the 13th is really an unlucky day! At the end of the day, it could be the way you grew up or the people that you associated with that result in the level of superstition that you have. Before I leave i'd like to leave you with a quote by Bertrand Russell “I do not pretend to be able to prove that there is no God. I equally cannot prove that Satan is a fiction. The Christian god may exist; so may the gods of Olympus, or of ancient Egypt, or of Babylon. But no one of these hypotheses is more probable than any other: they lie outside the region of even probable knowledge, and therefore there is no reason to consider any of them.”  
Questions:
Is superstition in a way related to religion?
What are some of the discoveries that have been made?
Do your superstition beliefs have to do with the way you grew up or any religion beliefs?
What are some odd examples of superstition?
What parts of the brain trigger superstition?

Citations:

 "Are You Superstitious? Facts | National Geographic Channel." National Geographic Channel. N.p., 02 Apr. 2014. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.

 

Burns, William, "Superstition." Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology. 2001, "superstition." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009, "superstition." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed.. 2014, and T. "Superstition." Encyclopedia.com. High Beam Research, 01 Jan. 2005. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.