It hit me when the better half of the day was already over that today is Friday the 13th. Now I always knew that there is a scary movie with the same title and that this day is associated with bad omens and wrong luck but I never knew why. Being more inquisitive and not at all superstitious, I googled 'today' and came across some really interesting facts. Some of them:
1. Fear of Friday the is 13th called paraskavedekatriaphobia as well as friggatriskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13.
2. Many hospitals have no room 13, while some tall buildings skip the 13th floor and some airline terminals omit Gate 13.
3. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and President Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number 13.
4. Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner party. A friend warned him not to go. "It was bad luck," Twain later told the friend. "They only had food for 12." Superstitious diners in
5. The number 13 suffers from its position after 12, according to numerologists who consider the latter to be a complete number — 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of Christmas and 12 eggs in a dozen.
By what I've read, the cause of such a strong association between this supposedly satanic duo seems vague. The cause might just date back to Biblical times as the 13th guest at the Last Supper betrayed Jesus.
If Friday the 13th is indeed unlucky somehow, then 2009 has more than its share as it'll witness 3 such days during the year. The first was in February, the second being today and the later in November.
With the global recession and terrorist activities managing to capture most of the limelight and headlines these days, it shouldn’t be long before economists, politicians and even exponents of this "Friday the 13th" and other related phenomena, deem 2009 as a euphemistic year.
But seriously, being at the place we are right now, talking about all the progress and advancement that we seen around us, shouldn't we being drawing a curtain over this belief which since the Middle Ages has considered both Friday and 13 as bearers of bad fortune. Isn’t it time enough that we give Friday (a day of the week people look forward to even more than the weekends) and 13 (poor number, after 12, happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time) a much deserved break!!!
If Friday the 13th is indeed unlucky somehow, then 2009 has more than its share as it'll witness 3 such days during the year. The first was in February, the second being today and the later in November.
With the global recession and terrorist activities managing to capture most of the limelight and headlines these days, it shouldn’t be long before economists, politicians and even exponents of this "Friday the 13th" and other related phenomena, deem 2009 as a euphemistic year.
But seriously, being at the place we are right now, talking about all the progress and advancement that we seen around us, shouldn't we being drawing a curtain over this belief which since the Middle Ages has considered both Friday and 13 as bearers of bad fortune. Isn’t it time enough that we give Friday (a day of the week people look forward to even more than the weekends) and 13 (poor number, after 12, happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time) a much deserved break!!!
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