To Friday the 13th or Not to Friday the 13th

 

There are several superstitions out there. In school we had to come up with 20 of them. When I turned in my paper I had over 200 of them. There is one that has made the most money in Hollywood and that is Friday the 13th. There have been movies, books and even tv series. The Friday the 13th franchise makes a ton of money each year. So is Friday the 13th as unlucky as the movies make it out?

The fear of Friday the 13th is friggatriskaidekaphobia or parskevidekatriaphobia. Well it is not just the fear of Friday the 13th but the morbid and irrational fear of it.  Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of number 13 and Frigga is the Norse goddess for whom Friday is named.  Parskevidekatriaphobia is Greek with paraskevi meaning Friday and dekatria meaning 13.

This could be confusing on why they used parskevidekatriapohobia as fear of Friday the 13th and triskaidekaphobia,the fear of 13, is also Greek with tris meaning 3 and deka as 10. Why they just did not name the fear of 13 as dekatriaphobia instead of triskaidekaphobia is anybody’s guess.

So back to the original thought, why is Friday the 13th considered to be unlucky. I have read, read and read more and many things were the same but some had different ideas.  The number 12 is considered to lucky number as it represents completeness. That may be the reason why we have 12 months, 12 Zodiac and 12 hours on a clock. In Religious matters 12 is also a good number as seen in the 12 Apostles, the 12 gods of Olympus, Odin had 12 sons and there are 12 Jyotirlingas’ in Hindu Shaivism and so on.

Based on that theory then 13 would be a destructive number. But that may be based more on some certain events. The superstition that it is unlucky to have 13 guests at the table is could be based on the Last Supper. There was 12 Apostles and Jesus was the 13th guest and well, he died so the superstition that someone would die at a dinner table of 13 guests was born. There are lots of theories but there just the same amount of stories that contradict that and that 13 is a lucky number. There have been many sports figures that have worn the number 13 like Ozzie Guillen, Alex Rodriguez, Dan Marino and many others. Colgate University was founded by 13 men with 13 dollars, 13 prayers and 13 articles. Even today they feel that the number 13 is very lucky. The ancient Mayan Tzolk’in calendar has 13 day periods. In ancient Egypt and China 13 is a luck number. At the age of 13 a child becomes a teenager, which some people would argue if it was a lucky or not.

The theory that Friday the 13th is unlucky may be attributed to the Pope declaring war on the Knights Templar and the secrets murder had taken place on that date. Some say that Christ was crucified on Friday the 13th but that may be far fetch as the calendar has changed so many times since that time. There have been many storms over the course of history but you can’t rely on that as storms hit all the time.

So there are lots of fancy facts on why Friday the 13th is considered to be unlucky but there is just the same amount that it is just another day. Statistically there is less accident than other Friday’s but you cannot rely on the numbers as there are so many people that are afraid of Friday the 13th and stay home. Many people refuse to fly or even shop on Friday the 13th so for business it is unlucky as they profit margin drops.

So the real question is what you believe? Does thinking that something is going to get you on Friday the 13th really makes it come true? Are you unintentionally attracting negativity to yourself?

Dr. Donald Dossey told his patients that when they learn to pronounce it, you’re cured. The only problem is that I have searched on how to pronounce it right but I can’t find it, so we are on our own. So let’s give it a try and have a Friday the 13th party. I know that I will.

Coriander Bats