Countdown to
Friday the 13th
The calendar's most famous unlucky day, one to three times a year.
Today is Friday the 13th.
11 days until Friday the 13th, on Friday, November 13, 2026.
Friday the 13th is Friday, November 13, 2026. Happens whenever the 13th of a month falls on a Friday.
Friday the 13th is the calendar’s most famous unlucky day, a date that arrives, unavoidably, between one and three times every year. It carries no special status in law or religion; its power is pure superstition, a knot tying together two much older uneasy feelings, one about Fridays and one about the number 13.
How we get this date. The rule is exact: the page looks forward from today for the next date that is both the 13th of a month and a Friday. A month contains a Friday the 13th precisely when its first day is a Sunday, which is why the day clusters unevenly through the year. Every year has at least one, and no year ever has more than three.
Where the dread comes from. Both halves of the superstition are ancient. The number 13 has long been treated as unstable (there were 13 at the Last Supper), and Friday carried its own gloom in Christian tradition. But the pairing of the two seems to be no older than the 19th century. It was popularized in 1907 by Thomas W. Lawson’s best-selling novel Friday, the Thirteenth, in which a stockbroker deliberately picks the day to engineer a Wall Street panic. The often-repeated claim that the fear dates to the mass arrest of the Knights Templar on Friday, October 13, 1307 is a modern association, not a documented origin.
The fear is common enough to have earned a tongue-twisting name, paraskevidekatriaphobia, while the broader fear of the number 13 alone is triskaidekaphobia. For everyone else, it is mostly an excuse to notice the calendar.
😱 Fun facts about Friday the 13th
- Every calendar year has at least one Friday the 13th and never more than three. A month lands one whenever its first day is a Sunday.
- A year can have three Friday the 13ths in only two patterns: a common year that starts on a Thursday (February, March, and November) or a leap year that starts on a Sunday (January, April, and July).
- The fear even has a tongue-twisting name, paraskevidekatriaphobia, and the broader dread of the number 13 alone is triskaidekaphobia.
- The pairing seems no older than the 19th century, and the 1907 best-seller "Friday, the Thirteenth" by Thomas W. Lawson — about a broker crashing Wall Street on the day — helped cement it.
- The popular claim that it began with the arrest of the Knights Templar on Friday, October 13, 1307 is a modern association, not a documented origin.
Upcoming Friday the 13th dates
| Date | Days away |
|---|---|
| 11 days | |
| 284 days | |
| 711 days | |
| 893 days | |
| 984 days |
Frequently asked
When is the next Friday the 13th?
The countdown above always shows the next one, and the upcoming-dates table lists the ones after it; every year has between one and three.
How is the date calculated?
The page looks forward from today for the next date that is both a Friday and the 13th of the month, so it always shows the true next occurrence.
How often does Friday the 13th happen?
Between one and three times every year. A month has one whenever its first day is a Sunday, which is why they cluster unevenly through the year.
Why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky?
It combines two older superstitions, unease about the number 13 and about Fridays, a pairing that only took hold in the 19th century and was popularized by a 1907 novel.