Don't open umbrellas indoors, at least if you don't want to upset the sun Gods. Do you believe in Friday the 13th?

How nervous do you get about Friday the 13^th? For some people it is just another day but for others, it is a day full of a superstition and bad luck.

Friday the 13^th, which is also known as Black Friday in some countries, began in the 20^th century.

There is no written evidence for a Friday the 13th superstition before the 19th century and the superstition only gained widespread distribution in the 20th century.

Here is a list of superstitions which people believe in.

• Don't open umbrellas indoors, at least if you don't want to upset the sun Gods.
• Don't walk under a ladder. A leaning ladder supposedly represents the trinity – walk right through it, and you're in league with the devil.
• Stay away from number four in parts of China. Four sounds like 'death' in Cantonese and in Hong Kong. Some high-rise buildings don't have fourth, 14th or 40th floors.
• The evil eye: strolling through a Turkish market, you'll see vivid blue evil-eye pendants to ward off the bad luck.
• It is seven years' bad luck if you break a mirror.
• Don't spill salt. A famous depiction is Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, where Judas's spilling of it isassociated with treachery and lies.
• Walk away from that black cat, it is believed they are evil.
• The number 13 has its own named phobia. Mark Twain was once the 13th guest at a dinner at Buckingham Palace, which was bombed by the Luftwaffe on Friday 13 September 1940, and Alfred Hitchcock, perhaps fittingly, was born on Friday 13 August 1899.