Blocking the Bad-Luck Bite of Friday the 13th

So you’re planning to spend this Friday--the dreaded 13th--hiding under your bedclothes. The bad luck that’s supposed to go with the day will have to work hard to find you, right?

Well, you might not have to pull a disappearing act after all--because you’re about to learn seven guaranteed ways (trust us) to ward off any misfortune that might be waiting to pounce on you.

If you’re a little sheepish about being superstitious, it may be comforting to be reminded that you’ve got millions of brothers and sisters--many of whom dread Friday the 13th, which occurs three times in 1987.

Anxiety about the number 13 is so widespread it has a name: triskaidekaphobia. And this hard-to-pronounce condition is so common that thousands of tall buildings don’t have a 13th floor.

The idea that Friday the 13th spews out danger probably comes from a combination of two ancient superstitions, experts say.

One was the belief that the number 13 was unlucky because that many people dined at the Last Supper.

The second has its roots in prehistoric times. Friday started out with a good reputation, as the day belonging to Freya, the goddess of love in Norse mythology; but after the emergence of Christianity, Freya became known as a witch and her day acquired an aura of peril. Fortunately, for every ill omen that ancient man could perceive, a charm, amulet or magical practice was developed as a countermeasure.

Some of these old antidotes are still available. And if learning about them doesn’t truly take the bite out of your Friday the 13th, at least you’ll have had the luck of receiving a mini survey of humankind’s war against bad fortune.

--Find a four-leaf clover. One legend holds that the four-leaf clover abounded in the Garden of Eden; Eve is said to have carried one with her when she left.

It’s scientifically proven that the ordinary three -leaf clover is beneficial, at least to farmers. According to Mike Henry, county director/turf adviser for the Orange County Cooperative Extension Office, clover is used in rotation planting because its nitrogen-fixing is helpful to future crops.

Despite his knowledge about clover, Henry can’t qualify as an expert on the four-leafer and any magical powers it might have. “I’ve never found one myself,” he said.

“When it gets close to St. Patrick’s Day, you will see a four-leaf ornamental oxalis being sold in nurseries as clover, but it is not true clover.”

When pinned down on whether he believes a four-leaf clover is lucky, he said: “They are pretty rare . . . so if you find one, you’re lucky.”

--Meet a chimney sweep. Throughout much of Europe, it was considered lucky to meet a chimney sweep by chance. Legend has it that on encountering a sweep, one should bow or otherwise greet him. (If you see someone spit when he meets a sweep, don’t think he’s being hostile; he’s just trying to double up on his good fortune, using a practice described in the next item.)

“Even now, we sweeps are invited to weddings,” said Jerry Marx of the Chimney Sweeper, a firm that cleans and repairs chimneys. “Usually the people who ask us are of English, German or Scandinavian descent. They pay us to attend wearing our traditional top hat and tails. We are there to bring good luck to the newlyweds.

“We have seven sweeps cleaning chimneys for us,” he said. And, he promised, “Every one of them is lucky.”

When asked about the greetings that sweeps get from the superstitious, Marx said: “Most people just want to shake our hands. . . . but we get kissed too, even though we are usually covered with soot.”

It’s cheating to seek good luck by looking for a sweep, but it would probably be OK if you just happened to run into one whom you had hired to clean your chimney this Friday. And, for that safe-all-day feeling, don’t forget to deliver a bow or--if it’s a sooty cutey--maybe a kiss.

The Chimney Sweeper, 14248 1/2 Oxnard St., Van Nuys , (818) 909-7044 , (213) 877-9337 , (213) 533-0604.

--Spitting. Saliva, once believed a powerful agent of magic and protection, has inspired superstitions almost everywhere in the world. Spitting, people thought, not only averted evil but increased the potency of whatever brought good luck. For this reason, some people would greet a chimney sweep by spitting on the ground.

A cautious soul would spit before entering a dangerous place. A fighter would spit on his hands before throwing the first blow. To make the work go better, a laborer would spit on his hands before digging.

In their book on superstitions, “Take Warning,” authors Jane Sarnoff and Reynold Ruffins promised, “Bad luck can be driven away if you hold the back of your hand to your face and spit three times through the forefinger and middle finger.”

Spitting for good luck is quick, easy (for those with the right technique) and indisputably cheap. But these days--with the possible exceptions of cowboys and professional baseball players--he who spits a lot spits alone.

Superstitious people who are mindful of modern sensibilities might use a spittoon, like the one from Brass Reproductions in Chatsworth, about $10.

Brass Reproductions, 9711 Canoga Ave., Chatsworth , (818) 709-7844.

--Hang a horseshoe over your door. Since pagan times, horses have been thought to be lucky. Even their hair was considered magical. Some claimed no harm could come to you while you were holding a horse’s hair.

The best-known horse-related superstition, however, concerns the horseshoe.

“We sell 200 tons of horseshoes every year, from pony size to Clydesdale size,” said Janet Bernson-Parmenter of the Horseshoe Store in Burbank. “Our customers are farriers, mostly, but many people do buy our horseshoes for luck. We will even have the shoes brass-plated for customers who don’t want them to rust.”

And are they really lucky?

“The superstition is that the horseshoe should be hung over the door,” she said, “though there is much controversy about which way to hang it. Some say the heels (ends) must be up, so the luck won’t fall out. Others say the heels should point down so the luck will rain down on you.

“But living here in earthquake country . . . I’m not sure it’s lucky to hang them over the door at all.”

The Horseshoe Store, 2636 N. Ontario St., Burbank , (818) 846-6861.

--See a bride. Almost everything about a bride was considered lucky--her garters, her flowers, her bridal cake. Many people believed that just catching sight of a bride brought good luck.

At the marriage license section of the office of the Los Angeles County Clerk, more than 40 brides (and an equal number of bridegrooms) are married by county commissioners on an average day.

And even Friday the 13th hasn’t cut down on the knot-tying in recent years. “We married 60 couples on Friday, Feb. 13, 1987,” said civil marriage commissioner Iris Spencer. “And 54 couples married here a month later on Friday, March 13. Both days were well above our average.”

Does Spencer believe it’s fortunate to see a bride? “Well, yes, actually, I do,” she said. “I travel a lot, and I come across many weddings. I’ve always felt seeing the bride added something to my day.”

But has seeing so many brides during her workday made her any luckier?

“I wish,” she answered.

--Carry a rabbit’s foot. In very olde England, people used to worship the hare, a relative of the rabbit. Rabbits became symbols of good luck in more modern times--some said because they managed to survive underground despite the evil they encountered there--and even today, some folks carry rabbits’ feet for luck.

As always, the trick is to catch the rabbit. It was said that for the best possible luck (this one’s not for the queasy), the rabbit should be shot with a silver bullet during a full moon, a hind leg cut off and dipped in rainwater collected in a hollow stump. The foot was to be carried in your left back pocket, or, lacking a pocket, worn around your neck. And it shouldn’t be lost, because the older and drier it got, the luckier it was.

Frank Stein Novelty Co. in Los Angeles sells rabbits’ feet by the gross, $42 for the mama size and $54 for the papa size, according to spokesman Mel Mantell.

Are they lucky?

“Let’s see here . . . the catalogue says ‘genuine furry rabbit foot key chain, a good luck piece,’ ” Mantell read aloud. “Yes, they’re lucky.”

Taxidermist Michael O’Donnell of Bischoff’s Taxidermy in Burbank, will prepare a custom rabbit’s foot--say, one that’s been dipped in rainwater, for $35.

“People have actually asked us to do that,” he said. “We prepare them one at a time, take the skin off, put a form in. . . . The ones you buy at the gift store are just dried. Come to think of it, I’ve always wondered where they find those Day-Glo-green rabbits.”

Does O’Donnell consider rabbits’ feet lucky?

“Gee, doesn’t do the rabbits any good, does it?”

Frank Stein Novelty Co., 1969 S. Los Angeles St., Los Angeles , (213) 747-9585. Bischoff’s Taxidermy, 449 S. San Fernando Blvd., Burbank , (818) 843-7561.

--Touch a sailor’s collar. One superstition held that it was good luck to touch a sailor’s collar, preferably without the sailor’s knowledge.

“I think I know where that belief came from,” said Ray Warden, petty officer first class, of the Naval Recruiting Station in Canoga Park. “In the days when ships were wood and men were iron (about 200 years ago), sailors wore their hair long. Before battles, they would dip the hair on the back of the head in tar.

“When it dried,” said Warden, “the hair would be hard enough to dull an unexpected blow to the back of the neck from an enemy’s cutlass.

“Sailors wore high, detachable collars then,” he added, “to protect their uniforms from the tar.”

Anything that was associated with preserving life was bound to become luck-laden, but does Warden think it would be lucky to touch a sailor’s collar in 1987?

“He’d probably look at you kind of strange,” Warden warned. According to Senior Chief John Chadwell of the U. S. Naval Station in Long Beach, there are 16,000 sailors stationed there, aboard ships, in the shipyards and at the station itself. With that many sailors around, your odds of getting in a touch should be good. Happy hunting, and good luck.