The Fear of Friday the 13th
July 13th 2007 09:24
Category: Indian Sciences
Yesterday my husband came home frustrated. He was ready for a product launch and his boss delayed the event saying that tomorrow is Friday, the 13th and No good work should be performed on that day. He wanted the product launch to be delayed as he feared the product will be doomed if launched on this date.
My husband, being an impatient person was frustated as he was ready and was keen to launch it as soon as possible.
Today is Friday, the 13th. The fear for Friday the 13th stems from two separate fears - the fear for 13 and fear for Friday.
In this post I bring to you some the interesting beliefs about this date.
The fear of Friday the 13th is known as paraskevidekatriaphobia. Being difficult to pronounce and spell, it is simply called the Fear of Friday the 13th.
Thirteen is significant to Christians because it is the number of people who were present at the Last Supper (Jesus and his 12 apostles). Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th member of the party to arrive.
Jesus was crucified on Friday.
Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit on Friday.
Sailors were particularly superstitious in this regard, often refusing to ship out on a Friday. According to unverified legend, the British Navy commissioned a ship in the 1800s called H.M.S. Friday, in order to quell the superstition.
The navy selected the crew on a Friday, launched the ship on a Friday and even selected a man named James Friday as the ship's captain. Then, one Friday morning, the ship set off on its maiden voyage... and disappeared forever.
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.
An abstract of a study published in the British Medical Journal in 1993 entitled "Is Friday the 13th Bad for Your Health?" stated that -
Indian, Chinese and Buddhist culture does not consider Friday or the 13th as inauspicious.
Ultimately, the complex stories of Friday the 13th doesn't have much to do with people's fears today. The fear has much more to do with personal experience. People learn at a young age that Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky, for whatever reason, and then they look for evidence that the legend is true.
The evidence isn't hard to come by, of course. If you get in a car wreck on one Friday the 13th, lose your wallet, or flunk in a test or interview, that date will probably stay with you as an unlucky date. But if you think about it, bad things, big and small, happen all the time.
If you're looking for bad luck on Friday the 13th, you'll probably find it.
My husband, being an impatient person was frustated as he was ready and was keen to launch it as soon as possible.
In this post I bring to you some the interesting beliefs about this date.
The fear of Friday the 13th is known as paraskevidekatriaphobia. Being difficult to pronounce and spell, it is simply called the Fear of Friday the 13th.
Thirteen is significant to Christians because it is the number of people who were present at the Last Supper (Jesus and his 12 apostles). Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th member of the party to arrive.
Jesus was crucified on Friday.
Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit on Friday.
Sailors were particularly superstitious in this regard, often refusing to ship out on a Friday. According to unverified legend, the British Navy commissioned a ship in the 1800s called H.M.S. Friday, in order to quell the superstition.
The navy selected the crew on a Friday, launched the ship on a Friday and even selected a man named James Friday as the ship's captain. Then, one Friday morning, the ship set off on its maiden voyage... and disappeared forever.
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.
An abstract of a study published in the British Medical Journal in 1993 entitled "Is Friday the 13th Bad for Your Health?" stated that -
With the aim of mapping "the relation between health, behaviour, and superstition surrounding Friday 13th in the United Kingdom," its authors compared the ratio of traffic volume to the number of automobile accidents on two different days, Friday the 6th and Friday the 13th, over a period of years.
Incredibly, they found that in the region sampled, while consistently fewer people chose to drive their cars on Friday the 13th, the number of hospital admissions due to vehicular accidents was significantly higher than on "normal" Fridays.
Their conclusion:
"Friday 13th is unlucky for some. The risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52 percent. Staying at home is recommended."
Incredibly, they found that in the region sampled, while consistently fewer people chose to drive their cars on Friday the 13th, the number of hospital admissions due to vehicular accidents was significantly higher than on "normal" Fridays.
Their conclusion:
"Friday 13th is unlucky for some. The risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52 percent. Staying at home is recommended."
Indian, Chinese and Buddhist culture does not consider Friday or the 13th as inauspicious.
Ultimately, the complex stories of Friday the 13th doesn't have much to do with people's fears today. The fear has much more to do with personal experience. People learn at a young age that Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky, for whatever reason, and then they look for evidence that the legend is true.
The evidence isn't hard to come by, of course. If you get in a car wreck on one Friday the 13th, lose your wallet, or flunk in a test or interview, that date will probably stay with you as an unlucky date. But if you think about it, bad things, big and small, happen all the time.
If you're looking for bad luck on Friday the 13th, you'll probably find it.
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Comment by Nickoftime's Sanity Corner
a most excellent poet! Lost of good information and some little known history as well...
People fears things only because they don't understand them...Firday the 13th has never posed a problem for me, nor seemed different from any other day...
Although my family, being of Irish decent from the "old country" took this as probably the worst, most fording day of the year...
Since the entuire family felt that way, they were more prone to "look" for and expect something to go wrong...
Invaribly something always did, and so the legend persisted...
Having been Buddhist for the past 9 years, I've realized that absolutely nothing untowards or unpleasant happens on Friday the 13th unless you go out and look for it!
LOL
THis was a great post!
Take care,
Nick
Comment by MaaUpma
Indus Guru
Vastu - The Indian Science of Dwelling
EGurumantra - Demystifying India
True something or the other untoward definitely happens if we believe. This is what I always call "Programming the subconcious"
Thanks for visiting
Ma Upma