Today is 10-13-13. Since there are only 12 months in a year, this is the most times the single number thirteen has shown up in a single date since the year 1913. I guess the record holder would be the thirteenth day of a month in the year 1313.
Some people think that the number 13 brings bad luck, and some don't. Some also believe that it is doubly bad if the thirteenth day of the month falls on a Friday. So, why is that number considered unlucky and some other number, say 8, isn't? How did this all get started?
Well, according to my book "Dictionary of World Folklore", it all got started because there were 13 people present at the Last Supper and Judas Iscariot went out and hung himself. A very common English superstition holds that if 13 people sit down for dinner one will die before the year is out.
Thirteen is also called the "Devil's dozen". There is also the Baker's dozen. The Baker's dozen seemed to have started back when bakers were fearful of being prosecuted for giving short measures of their baked goods. But don't any of you worry, you are all going to have a great day, you hear?
Wait....Wha? There's no 13th month??
ReplyDeleteI never said there was. Read it again.
DeleteI read it thirteen times, and it's now 13:59 AM.
DeleteI love the number 13 and jokingly (or not) call it my lucky number. Friday the 13th has always been a good day for me, with great things happening. If I'm superstitious, it's the other way around.
ReplyDeleteThe number 13 never bothered me. I would say that I am not supertitious, but some of those things do lurk in the back of my mind, like walking under ladders, breaking mirrors, etc.
DeleteThursday we'll be boarding a cruise ship... and I'll betcha there's no Floor (or is it Deck?) 13... Since we seldom take the elevator we've noticed this on other ships. Guess nobody wants to stay on the 13th floor.
ReplyDeleteCheck the numbers on the elevator. They usually go from 12, to 14. Yep.
DeleteDeck or floor 13 is reserved for those of us who are not superstitious (grin). Now, wouldn't that be nice?
ReplyDeleteMust admit I am superstitious....and rightly so as I have had several bad things happen to me on the 13th. Have also lost several friends on this date...coincidence? I do not know but I avoid going out on this day.
ReplyDeleteThere is an old Spanish saying "Martes 13 ni te cases, ni te embarques, ni de tu casa te apartes".
In Spain Tuesday the 13th is considered an unlucky day much like our Friday the 13th. The saying says "On Tuesday 13th do not marry, board a boat or leave your house.
Now, if the number 13 is bad luck, which number is good luck?
DeleteThree is considered a good number in Chinese culture because it sounds like the word "alive" . But Luck, especially bad luck, is often said to "come in threes".
DeleteI am not superstitious, so I believe any number can be as lucky or as unlucky as you want it to be. All though the larger the number is on my bank account the luckier I feel.
DeleteI no longer believe in all that superstitious stuff. The number 13 is only unlucky if you make it that way. For example: if it's the Friday 13th, anything negative that happens to you on that day will make the old saying seem as if it is true. But negative things happen every day of the month too.
ReplyDeleteAnd if on Friday 13th you make much more of an effort to make sure you don't have an accident, you are more likely to have an accident because you are being overly-careful if you know what I mean.
Rum-Punch, I feel the same way as you do. That goes for all superstitions.
DeleteThe Bible tells us not to be superstitious and have nothing to do with fortune tellers and necromancers. I'll walk under a ladder, just to prove that I am not superstitious, but it does make sense not to walk under one in case the person up top drops something on you!!
ReplyDeleteFriday the 13th, is just like any Friday, and black cats are considered VERY lucky in Europe