10.10.10

Of Fable and Folklore : Friday The 13th


If there is something that I love. It would be superstitions. I simply adore them. I don't live by them, I don't preach or teach them to others. I just like to know, they happen to make great conversation starters.

I thought I'd talk a little bit about something I mentioned in my other post. Friday the 13th.
Now I personally consider the fact that most people find the Friday the 13th unlucky or cursed, it has to be the luckiest day of the year. Since most are so terribly cautious it's probably a very safe day. According to The National Geographic this day actually affects 17-21 million people each year. The article was published 6 years ago but I doubt the numbers have changed. The fear of the day is known as paraskevidekatriaphobia according to my book on Phobias. Easy for me, because the entire bloody word is Greek. Paraskeví (Παρασκευή) means Friday and dekatreís (δεκατρείς) means the thirteenth and of course phobía (φοβία) means fear. (Is anyone getting a flash back to the intro of My Big Fat Greek wedding?) So we put that together as Paraskevi Dekatreis Phobia. It just rolls off of the tongue. Check out Wikipedia in startling accuracy on the pronunciation. Fear of Friday the 13th.

Now then. Friday the 13th. Why is it so feared? Why does it matter?
Surprisingly, this particular day has a lot of history. In Norse Mythology, 12 Gods reside in Valhalla one night for a dinner party. Loki, a mischeif maker was the 13th guest. True to his name of mischief making, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the goddess of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Hoder hits the beautiful goddess and she dies. The world was shrouded in darkness and the earth mourns.
Christians see a connection with the 13th apostle Judas, as he was the one who betrayed Jesus and was also the 13th guest at the Last Supper.
In ancient Roman history, witches gathered in groups of 12 to do their witchy business and the 13th person that joined was assumed to be the devil.
There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. With expectations like these, it's not hard to see why 13 isn't a very welcome number.

Now what about Friday? That's also a very biblical day. The day Jesus was crucified was documented to be on a Friday, Eve tempted Adam with forbidden fruit on a Friday, The Flood in the Bible occurred on a Friday and Abel was slain by Cain on Friday the 13th.

A really unfortunate Friday the 13th was during 1306, when King Philip of France arrested the Knights Templar and began torturing them to confess to heresy, which marked that particular day cursed by the devil himself. Not even ten years later, as the last Grand Master of the Templar, Jacques de Molay died and he cursed the name of King Philip and the reluctant Pope that was urged into the downfall of the Templar, both king and Pope died within the following year, what a surprise!

In Britain, both Friday and the number 13 were relatively close for other factors. Friday was a day for public hangings and there were 13 steps leading to the noose.

Do we see the effects even today? Definitely.
More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor.
Many airports skip the 13th gate.
Airplanes have no 13th aisle.
Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.
Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.
On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.
Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue.
Many who fear simply the number 13 point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.

So our poor Friday the 13th is merely predicted to be a bad day. With so much under it's belt, so much infamy it's no wonder that people assume things will go wrong on this day. How can you avoid this bad luck? Besides thinking that Murphy's Law has something to do with it? When having a party, be sure that a 14th party guest is prepared at all costs, like in France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) were the 14th guest to keep a dinner party from an unlucky or unfortunate fate.

Don't think about the number as being bad, the easiest remedy to fore go the unease of the 13th is treat like any other number, which it is because doing that is so much simpler than going on top of a skyscraper and burning all the socks that have holes in them and doing a hand stand eating gristle which are both recommendations in folklore to avoid bad luck.

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