Only one thing can be predicted for this Friday, the 13th of February; it will be an anxiety-filled day for friggatriskaidekaphobes. The label, with its origins in Nordic mythology and ancient Greek, identifies those afflicted souls who possess an overwhelming fear of Friday the 13th.
Where does this unnatural trepidition of Friday the 13th originate, and is there any harm in staying home from work for fear of a bad day or tragic accident?
As any reputable scientist or mathematician will tell you, "luck" does not exist. Good fortune is randomly distributed and not dependent on the day. The superstitious, however, will cite a long history of misfortune associated with the number thirteen.
As the story goes, in order to understand thirteen, one has to understand the history of twelve. The number twelve has traditionally represented completeness. There are twelve months of the year, twelve gods of Olympus, twelve signs of the zodiac and twelve apostles of Jesus.
Thirteen exists just one digit beyond twelve, and is symbolic of the first departure from completeness or the initial step towards evil. Judas Iscariot was the "thirteenth" apostle, the thirteenth tribe of Israel was the only tribe left without land, and the ill-fated Apollo 13 space mission was launched at 1313 hours (central time), from pad 39 (the 3rd multiple of 13) and had to be aborted on April 13, 1970. Practitioners of witchcraft will cite that the number thirteen equals the number of days in the year divided by twenty-eight, the number of days in a woman's menstrual cycle.
Friday has an equally colourful past. According to the Bible, Eve gave the apple to Adam on Friday, the great flood began on a Friday, the Temple of Solomon was destroyed on a Friday, execution day was Friday in Rome, and Good Friday exists because it is the reported day of Jesus' crucifixion. An English schoolboy allegedly proved mathematically that thirteen, when examined over a 400-year period, falls on Friday more than any day of the year. He was thirteen years old, of course.
But for all the infamy and credence given to bad luck on Friday the 13th, there are many less publicised examples of good fortune. In pagan times, Friday was the day of the love goddess, and today, fittingly enough, Friday is the end of the workweek. Many actors insist on signing contracts only on Friday because it brings good luck. Novelist Charles Dickens habitually began the writing of all his books on a Friday, the day of his birth.
At the birth of U.S.A., thirteen colonies formed the Union, a baker's dozen is considered a fortunate bargain, and if you are Jewish, age thirteen is the time for a bar or bat mitzvah. For some Christians, thirteen could be considered sacred, since it equals the Ten Commandments plus the Trinity. And, as most sports fans know, Dan Marino, perhaps the greatest of NFL quarterbacks, wears number thirteen.
Even with all the fuss over Friday the 13th, the only reality that surrounds the date is that it remains nothing more than superstition. Friday is like any other day of the week that happens to occur on the thirteenth of the month.
It might be easy to laugh at such foolishness, but this same kind of superstitious thinking operates to support beliefs that can be harmful. It is estimated that the 13th of the month costs America a billion dollars a year through train and plane reservation cancellation, absenteeism, and reduced commerce. One can see why philosopher Edmund Burke proclaimed superstition the "religion of feeble minds."
Belief in Friday the 13th is no different from belief in astrology, quack medicine, hauntings or UFOs and the crash at Roswell, New Mexico. None of these claims are grounded in sound scientific evidence.
Unfortunately, the media often promulgates and spreads superstition through uncritical presentations. Television programs and films like the Unexplained, Friday the 13th, Psi Factor, Independence Day, and Unsolved Mysteries, Dark Skies and the X-Files need to balance their content with scientific criticism. Otherwise, Hollywood producers, like modern-day PT Barnums, are contributing to a society of believers in superstition and the paranormal. It is when people make financial, political and personal decisions based on these kinds of superstitions that we witness the true darkside of Friday the 13th.
I personally feel that Saturday 14th people tend to be more careless especially when driving,.
