It’s Friday the 13th. Do you know where your phobias are? Do you know where the fear of this date comes from? What do the Vikings, Turks and early Christians have in common? Read on below to find out, and...don’t be afraid.
And if you’re afraid of Friday the 13th, you have paraskevidekatriaphobia the fear of Friday the 13th, which some see as the unluckiest day of the year. According to reports, 17 to 21 million people in America suffer from this phobia.
According to historians, the fear of Fridays and the number 13 have their origins in Christianity. Jesus and the 12 apostles made up a party of 13.
The superstition that arose out of there being 13 at the Last Supper is, it is said if 13 people sit down to a dinner, all will die within a year. This apparently was such a fear that in France at the turn of the century, there were diners for hire that a person could hire to round out the number of dinner guests to 14, thus avoiding having 13 sit down to the table.
Also, according to history, on Friday the 13th, 1306, King Phillip of France began his persecution, torture and murder of the Knights Templar.
The ancient Turks disliked the number 13 so much that they very nearly struck it from their language; in high rise office buildings that are over 13 stories, you will not find a 13th floor, nor will you find streets such as 13th St. or 13th Ave.
Not all cultures believe 13 is unlucky. The Chinese consider it a lucky number.
Statistics have not shown Friday the 13th to be inherently unlucky, although one British study in 1933 did show a larger number of accidents that day, versus on a Friday the 6th.
Since Friday the 13th will appear in the calendar from we can hope the only bad luck encountered this Friday the 13th is the bad luck the teams playing against the FCHS Griffins and the RWA Eagles experience.
Post a Comment
