VERY SUPERSTITIOUS...

Have you checked the calendar today? Yup. It’s Friday the 13^th. Does that scare you?

According to my sources (the Internet), thirteen is an unlucky number. Historically it has something to do with the number of people seated at the dinner table. Why? Let’s see…how many were at The Last Supper? Thirteen. And we all know how that turned out. How many, according to the Norse myth, were at the table before Loki arrived uninvited and then some really bad things happened, like, people died? Twelve, plus Loki equals thirteen. The code of Hammurabi skips right over a 13th Law. There must be something to this...

Twelve is considered a “perfect” number (twelve months in a year, twelve gods of Olympus, twelve hours in half of a day.) It then follows that the number thirteen must be equally UN-perfect, right? Or so the superstitious minded say. Peoples’ fear of the number thirteen, labeled triskaidekaphobia (that’s a mouthful, isn’t it?) is evident through the centuries. Even today you might hop on an elevator in a high-rise and notice there is no 13th floor.   

I might buy into the unluckiness of the number, but what's the connection to Friday? History.com reminds us Jesus was crucified on the day after The Last Supper, which was a Friday. On Friday, the thirteenth of October, 1307, arrests of The Knights Templar began. (I’m not going down that rabbit hole. It’s kind of long and complicated. Feel free to Google it yourself.) 

The fear of Friday the 13^th is Paraskevidekatriaphobia or Friggatriskaidekaphobia. Again, both mouthfuls. It is estimated that almost thirty million people actually “fear” the day. No celebrations. No traveling. No surgeries or teeth cleanings. And in extreme cases, no working. Imagine that many people staying at home and hiding under the covers today!

Yes, many bad things have happened on Friday, the 13^th. But equally bad things (or worse) have happened on other days of the year. I wonder if some of it is a self-fulling prophecy. One expects something unlucky to happen so they are on particularly high alert to notice it, something on a non-thirteen day they wouldn't have paid attention to. 

But some good has come out of it, if you are in any financial way associated to the Friday the 13^th franchise. Those are the movies designed to scare the beejezus out of you. A dozen movies and other spin-offs and tie-ins riffing on the theme that really bad things happen on that day have earned almost half-a billion dollars.

I tempt the fates when it comes to superstitions. As a child, I not only stepped, but I STOMPED on a crack, and yet my mother never had a broken back. Growing up we had a black cat. I would startle it so that it would scurry across my path. Have you ever walked under a ladder? Broken a mirror? Knocked on wood? All silly superstitions. While I have been known to pick up a penny whenever I see it, it’s not because I’m hoping for luck  but because, well, that gets me one cent closer to retirement.

While the day is still young, so far so good here at Casa Ormerod. I haven't spilled my diet Coke or stubbed my toe or any other unlucky thing. I will be heading out into the world without fear. But I will probably have my fingers crossed, just to be "safe." 

Wishing you all a safe and LUCKY day today and every day throughout the year.