Black cat in your path? Pffft. Give it a l’il skritch.
Crack in the sidewalk? Might as well walk it like a tightrope. And no sense avoiding threading that ladder on your way to the corner store.
Why? Because Maria Vescio of Ontario won $1.2 million on Friday, May 13’s Lotto Max draw.
That’s more than a million dollars. On FRIDAY THE 13TH.
After the win, Vescio said her dreams would become a reality because of the $1,231,792.20 lotto success. So much for the date being a harbinger of bad luck. At least in Vescio’s case, that is.
Win a blessing for long-time Ontario lotto player
“This win is a huge blessing and will go a long way for me and my children,” said Vescio. “I’ve never experienced a feeling like this before. It’s surreal and beyond incredible.”
The Newmarket woman said she has been playing the Ontario lottery for many years. “I used to buy Wintario tickets with my mom,” she said.
On this occasion, the ‘Big Winner’ screen left her in shock.
“I took a screenshot and immediately called my husband,” Vescio said. “When I looked at all the numbers, I started screaming with excitement. I almost lost my voice.”
Ontario lotto win not only Friday the 13th luck
Long considered an omen of doom, Friday the 13th inspires much lore, like the popular horror film franchise of the same name.
The unlucky superstition stems (it’s thought) from Christianity, which has a general dislike for the number thirteen. (Thirteen guests dined at the last supper and the next day wasn’t the greatest for Jesus — if you happen to recall.)
The Friday aspect of the aversion is said to be related. As the stories go, the crucifixion went down on a Friday. So to did Adam and Eve’s fall. Even Cain unalive-ing Able is said to be a Friday happening. Perhaps we’re lucky only Fridays that land on 13s are associated with misfortune.
We’d definitely be missing out on ‘Friyay’ delights. And Rebecca Black’s 2011 novelty hit and a resulting timeline that led directly to this newly released club banger.
But, despite its reputation as a no-fun zone, Friday the 13th is ground zero for the occasional bit of good fortune too.
Not only did a Friday the 13th in ’61 bring us Julia Louis Dreyfus, but another in ’67 ended employment discrimination in the US (for now, anyway 😶).
Like heavy metal? Black Sabbath released its self-titled album on Friday, February 13th, 1970. The record is widely considered the beginning of the whole genre. Hail Ozzy.
But perhaps the most fortunate Friday, the 13th, occurred for a 13-year-old boy. In August 2010, the unnamed boy survived a lightning strike that hit at 1:13 pm (13:13). The blessed teen escaped with a “minor burn” to the shoulder. Talk about lucky.
Despite not being a matter of life and death, Vescio’s recent lotto win is surely a close second.