Do you endure from Friggatriskaidekaphobia, the worry of Friday thirteenth?
You are not the one one.
It’s one of the vital pervasive superstitions in Western tradition, alongside crossing a black cat or strolling beneath a ladder.
As an illustration, an estimated 17 to 21 million folks in america are actively affected by Friggatriskaidekaphobia – named after Frigga, the Norse goddess after whom ‘Friday’ is known as in English – or ‘triskaidekaphobia’, the worry of the quantity 13.
Some folks refuse to fly, or shut a enterprise deal on this date, whereas others refuse to go away the home. Some buildings skip the thirteenth flooring, going from 12 straight to 14, there are dinner company who refuse to eat at a desk with 13 company, and there are airways wouldn't have a row 13.
However why is the quantity and date thought-about so unfortunate?
Uninvited company, numerology and Jason
The origins of Friggatriskaidekaphobia (or paraskevidekatriaphobia in some quarters), as with most superstitions, are robust to pinpoint.
The idea of the cursed quantity can return to Norse mythology.
Based on Viking fantasy, 12 gods had been having a banquet in Valhalla. A thirteenth, uninvited visitor often called Loki – the god of mischief – arrived, and deceived Hodr, the blind god of darkness, into capturing Balder the Lovely, the god of pleasure and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow.
The superstition then unfold south all through Europe, turning into established by the beginning of the Christian period.
Then got here the story of one other feast: the Final Supper, which was attended by Jesus Christ and his disciples. The thirteenth visitor was none aside from Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, resulting in his crucifixion on Good Friday.
Going again even additional in Biblical custom, Friday is claimed to be the day that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Data, in addition to the day Cain murdered his brother, Abel.
Past fantasy and faith, for a lot of the quantity 13 suffers just because it comes after the quantity 12.
Numerologists contemplate 12 a “full quantity”: there are 12 months within the yr; 12 hours of the clock; and 12 indicators of the Zodiac; 12 labors of Hercules; 12 gods of Olympus… The quantity 13 is irregular by comparability.
As for Friday, many consider that it has been an unfortunate day because the 14th-century publication of Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales’: “And on a Friday fell all this mischance.”
Quick ahead a number of millennia and standard tradition has not helped in any method: Thomas William Lawson’s 1907 novel 'Friday, the Thirteenth', tells the story of a stockbroker who creates chaos on Wall Road; the German bombing of Buckingham Palace passed off on Friday 13 September 1940; the ill-fated Apollo 13 moon mission; the Friday thirteenth movies, with hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees slashing to his coronary heart’s content material…
All have contributed to giving the date a nasty rep.
However some international locations would disagree.
European variations
In Hispanic and Greek tradition, Tuesday thirteenth is historically thought-about an unfortunate day.
In Greece, Tuesday is the day related to Ares the god of struggle, and Greek title for ‘Tuesday’ is ‘Triti’, or ‘third’, heightening the superstition, since unhealthy luck supposedly is available in teams of three.
Add the truth that Constantinople fell each instances on a Tuesday - in 1204 throughout the Fourth Campaign, and in 1453 to the Ottomans - and also you’ve received your self a cursed day.
In Italy, the quantity 13 is definitely thought-about fortunate, and it’s Friday seventeenth that has the unhealthy repute.
The connection between the quantity 17 and unhealthy luck is goes again to the Roman numerals for 17, XVII. When rearranged, it creates the phrase VIXI, which interprets as “I've lived”, the previous tense which means dying.
Consequently, Alitalia, the nation's airline, doesn't function row 17 on its planes.
Hooray for Pagans and Taylor Swift
Each Fridays and the quantity 13 haven’t at all times been unfortunate.
Organized religions and misogyny silenced paganism and the celebration of ladies all through the centuries, thereby resulting in the narrative of Friday thirteenth as an unfortunate date.
In pagan instances, Friday was believed to have a novel affiliation with the divine female – which loops us again to Friggatriskaidekaphobia. As any discerning mythology knowledgeable or Marvel fan will inform you, Frigga was the Queen of Asgard and a strong sky goddess, one who was related to love and motherhood and who may prophesize fertility.
Due to this fact, Friday was thought-about a fortunate day for marriage by Norse and Teutonic folks.
Relating to the quantity 13, it was a harbinger of excellent fortune for pre-Christian and goddess-worshipping cultures due to its hyperlink to the variety of lunar and menstrual cycles that happen in a calendar yr.
After which comes nationwide treasure Taylor Swift…
Swift considers 13 her fortunate quantity and, early in her profession, usually carried out with the quantity written on her hand.
"I used to be born on the thirteenth. I turned 13 on Friday thirteenth. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. My first No. 1 one track had a 13-second intro," she advised MTV in 2009.
"Each time I've gained an award I have been seated in both the thirteenth seat, the thirteenth row, the thirteenth part or row M, which is the thirteenth letter. Mainly, at any time when a 13 comes up in my life, it is a good factor."
Perhaps the legacy of Friday thirteenth may be rewritten…
In any case, it beats making an attempt to pronounce Friggatriskaidekaphobia.
Good luck with that.
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