“The Last Supper” by Da Vinci: Judas (fourth from left) is considered the 13th participant. Image: Wikimedia
Friday 13 is synonymous with Bad luck for many people on the west side of the planet, but this belief is far from unanimous. Check out some facts and beliefs surrounding this date below.
1) In the Christian world, around Friday the 13th, superstition is associated with the Last Supper, which was attended by 13 people (Jesus and his 12 disciples) on Maundy Thursday evening. The next day, a Friday, Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers. The number 13 is therefore associated with Judas Iscariot, the last to come to the Lord’s Supper and a traitor to Christ.
+ Science analyzes superstitions
+ All Souls’ Day: 12 Facts and Curiosities
+ Colors and Psyche: Look at the psychology of the rainbow
2) The 13th annoying guest also appears in Norse mythology. According to legend, evil and unrest were brought into the world when Loki, the god of cunning and mischief, appeared at a dinner party in Valhalla, the gigantic 540door hall in Asgard. As the 13th participant, he upset the balance of the 12 gods present and unleashed a fight that resulted in the death of one of them, Baldur.
3) On October 13, 1307, a Friday, hundreds of Knights Templar were arrested on the orders of King Philip IV of France. The arrest had been demanded by Pope Clement V over allegations by an excommunicated former member that new recruits to the order were being forced to spit on the cross during initiation ceremonies, deny Christ and engage in homosexual acts.
Jacques de Molay, Templar Grand Master, being burned at the stake in Paris: The arrest of religious took place on a Friday 13th Image: Wikimedia (Credit: Por Luiz Chagas)
curse
Many of the prisoners were later cremated. One of them was the Grand Master of the Templars himself, Jacques de Molay, who was burned at the stake in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It is said that Molay cursed those who bestowed this fate on him. “God knows who is wrong and who has sinned,” he is said to have said. “There will soon be calamity for those who sentenced us to death.”
4) In Spanish speaking countries and Greece, the fear does not refer to Friday the 13th but to Tuesday the 13th. In Italy the schism is the same as Friday but associated with a different number: 17 .
5) Studies show that at least 10% of the United States population is afraid of the number 13. Each year, the even more specific fear of Friday the 13th results in over $800 million in financial losses. Many people avoid getting married, traveling or even working on these dates.
6) According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, more than 80% of tall buildings in the US do not have a 13th floor. Most hotels, hospitals and airports also avoid using the number for rooms and gates.
7) Ignoring the number 13 had distant precedent in the Codex of Hammurabi, written in Mesopotamia around 1772 BC Document translators that did not contain a line of text. Incidentally, the code did not list its laws numerically.
defy the rule
8) The irrational and unusual fear of the number 13 has even been given a psychological term: triscaidekaphobia. Friday the 13th phobia is known by two broad terms: parascavedekatriaphobia or frigatriscaidekaphobia.
+ ‘Wormholes’ help to solve the black hole puzzle
+ José Loreto admits staying with Gabi Martins: “I’m not going to drive her crazy”
+ Stunning images of giant pregnant female Great White Sharks
The Costa Concordia ship crashed on January 13, 2012, a Friday. Photo: Rvongher/Wikimedia (Credit: Mário Simas Filho)
9) In the late 19th century, Captain William Fowler (18271897) attempted to dispel the lingering stigma surrounding the number 13 and particularly the “rule” of not having 13 guests at a dining table by creating an exclusive New York City founded society called Clube Treze.
The group dined regularly on January 13 in Room 13 of the Knickerbocker Cottage, a busy bar Fowler owned from 1863 to 1883. Before sitting down to a 13course meal, members walked under a ladder and a banner that read “Morituri te salutant” (Hail the dying in Latin). Four former US Presidents attended the dinner: Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison and Theodore Roosevelt.
10) Among the various traumatic events that occurred on Friday the 13th are: the German bombing of Buckingham Palace (September 1940); a cyclone that killed more than 300,000 people in Bangladesh (November 1970); the disappearance of a Chilean Air Force plane in the Andes (October 1972); the death of rapper Tupac Shakur (September 1996); the Costa Concordia cruise ship accident off the coast of Italy, which killed 30 people (January 2012). But as history shows, there are no set days for tragedy.
Sources: Live Science, History.com, Vision, The Independent