No, Halloween will not fall on Friday the 13th this year
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on October 29, 2018 at 18:30
- 1 min read
- By AFP Pakistan
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This Facebook post, which has been shared more than 30,000 times, claims: “This year halloween falls on Friday the 13th, for the first time in 666 years.”
The meme has been posted on accounts with more than seven million followers combined and shared to a Reddit group with more than two million followers, according to CrowdTangle data.
Other versions of the meme like this one have also circulated widely online.
Halloween is always celebrated on October 31.
“I just fell for this… literally went the calendar to see for myself and everything,” Facebook user Amanda Keeling wrote in the comments.
“I actually just checked my calendar,” another user Janina Brugman wrote.
Versions of the hoax have appeared on social media ahead of Halloween for years, for example in 2014.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Halloween is observed on October 31.
“Halloween, contraction of All Hallows’ Eve, a holiday observed on October 31, the evening before All Saints’ (or All Hallows’) Day,” the Encyclopedia Britannica says.
Dr Dominique Wilson, of the University of Sydney’s Department of Studies in Religion, who focuses on the occult and pre-Christian mythology, says Halloween’s origins can be traced back to the 8th and the 9th centuries.
"The Catholic Church’s decision to hold these celebrations on these dates was influenced by a much older Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced “sow-win”) which started at sundown on 31 October," Wilson said in report on the university's website.
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