Fairy God Mum's Wish List

2004-08-13

Friday the 13th

Who Said This Day Was Unlucky?

Known scientifically as "Tridecaphobia," fear of the number 13.

I don't know a single soul in the US of A that avoids walking under a ladder, panics at the sight of a black cat, or fear's going outside just cause it's Friday the 13th.

For those of you still wondering where these superstitions come from, I have listed a few historical myths below.

If you believe in it, it will be so.
If you believe that Friday the 13th is unlucky, guess what... on the other hand, for me,
Friday the 13th has always brought Good Luck!
Believe that THIS IS Your Lucky Day, and ALL the Energy of GOOD that No One is absorbing on this Day WILL Come to You!

In ancient goddess-worshipping cultures 13 was a lucky number--because it corresponded to the number of lunar (menstrual) cycles in a year (13 x 28 = 364 days). (The "Earth Mother of Laussel," a 27,000-year-old carving near the Lascaux caves in France, depicts a female figure holding a crescent-shaped horn bearing 13 notches.) Later, according to some historians, 13 got a bad name�particularly among early Christian patriarchs--because it represented femininity.

Superstitions about Friday

Many people consider Friday unlucky because that�s the day of Jesus� Crucifixion, but historians believe the superstition goes much farther back and has something to do with the sacrifices offered to the goddess Frigg (goddess of marriage and fertility) or Freya (goddess of sex and fertility) or both, in Norse mythology.

Frigg/Freya�s emblem was the fish, which was associated with the worship of love and was offered by the Scandinavians to their goddess on the sixth day of the week, Friday. But the worship of love on Fridays, according to Popular Superstitions, developed into �a series of filthy and indecent rites and practices.�

According to Emery, Friday was considered lucky, especially as a day to get married, because of its associations with love. In other pagan cultures, Friday was the sabbath, a day of worship. Once Christianity entered the scene, Freya�whose sacred animal was a cat--was recast in folklore as a witch. In the Middle Ages, Friday was known as the "Witches' Sabbath."

Fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to make one super unlucky day.

There is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned.

There is a Biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper.

A particularly bad Friday the 13th occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil.

In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil by the Christians, but in fact was an aspect of "Nature" or the "Source of All Creation" henceforth "God".

Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.

It is traditionally believed that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday.

Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. In exceeding 12 by 1, 13's association with bad luck has to do with just being a little beyond completeness.

As the number 13 is a Prime Number (see: http://richardphillips.org.uk/number/gl/prime.htm)

On the other hand, the Egyptians at the time of the pharoahs considered 13 lucky, because they believed life unfolded in 12 stages, and that there was a 13th stage�the afterlife�beyond. That meant the number 13 symbolized death�as a happy transformation.
Egyptian civilization perished, but the symbolism of the number 13 lived on as fear of death. (In Tarot decks the "Death" card bears the number 13 but retains its original, positive meaning: transformation.)

Genesis 13:13 states "But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly."

And we all know what happened to Sodom... So Live a Life of Peace and Trust in Truth and Beauty

I know that this was very long... but people ask me this kind of stuff all the time.
Hope it was Informative.

Hugz n Lub, Bebe, da Fairy God Mum