No Limits | The Freedom Blog™
Friday the 13th
Written by Steven Griggs | stevengriggs.com
“ There are good days and there are bad days, and this is one of them”
Lawrence Welk
“ The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
If you are afraid of Friday the 13th, you have Friggatriskaidekaphobia, which is the name for fear of Friday the 13th .
Maybe you don’t think about it but a lot of people do and it is more common than you might think.
According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute of Ashville, North Carolina, over $800,000,000.00 is lost in business every Friday the 13th.
So for many people today is a day of bad luck, danger and possibly even death.
Personally, Friday the 13th has always been a good luck day for me, I don’t know why.
Where did this myth or superstition originate? There are many ideas on this. I’ve listed a few below, so take your pick:
1. The number twelve has long been considered the number of completeness. So the number 13 was beyond the pale or the norm. In other words it was a little bit scary to people at the time. For example:
· Twelve months of the year
· Twelve hours on the clock
· Twelve gods of Greek mythology
· Twelve tribes of Israel
· Twelve apostles of Jesus
· Twelve successors to Muhammad imams
2. There is also the superstition that having 13 people sit at a dinner table would result in the death of one of them. This perhaps relates back to the Christian story that the 13th member of the last supper was Judas. The Vikings also believed this.
3. On Friday the 13th in October of 1307, the King of France, Phillip IV ordered the arrest of hundreds of the Knights Templar. He had them imprisoned and tortured. He was deeply in debt to them and feared their growing power. The Knights, who were sanctioned by the Catholic Church and operated under its protection, were betrayed by the pope at that time, Pope Clement V. Thus in Europe, Friday the 13th was remembered ever after as a day of bad luck.
4. In ancient Babylon, in the code of Hammurabi ( circa 1772 BC), there is no number 13 in the list of laws.
5. Many Christians believe that Jesus was crucified on a Friday and therefore Fridays are considered an unlucky day.
Today we can still see the evidence of this superstition in our everyday life:
· Many buildings do not have a 13th floor.
· Many cities have no streets with the number 13 in them.
· Many hospitals do not have rooms with the number 13.
· Many airports do not have a gate 13.
If you believe Friday the 13th is a bad day, take heart. As I write this you only have 12 more hours to wait.
For the rest of us, Happy Friday the 13th!
www.stevengriggs.com
