[Loch-Ruadh] Friday the 13th

[Clint Gallon]

Loki strikes again ... :)
 -- Cathal

 On 5/13/05, Cat <fem_cat at yahoo.com> wrote: 
> 
> Just something read online that I thought I would
> share considering today's date.
> 
> Everyone have an interesting day!
> 
> ~Puck~
> 
> ============
> 
> Ominous Number
> 
> So how did Friday the 13th become such an unlucky day?
> 
> Dossey, also a folklore historian and author of
> Holiday Folklore, Phobias and Fun, said 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 ultimately combined to make
> one super unlucky day.
> 
> Dossey traces the fear of 13 to 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 whole Earth got dark. The whole
> Earth mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day," said
> Dossey. From that moment on, the number 13 has been
> considered ominous and foreboding.
> 
> There is also a biblical reference to the unlucky
> number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was
> the 13th guest to the Last Supper.
> 
> Meanwhile, in ancient Rome, witches reportedly
> gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be
> the devil.
> 
> Thomas Fernsler, an associate policy scientist in the
> Mathematics and Science Education Resource Center at
> the University of Delaware in Newark, said the number
> 13 suffers because of its position after 12.
> 
> According to Fernsler, 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, Fernsler said 13's association
> with bad luck "has to do with just being a little
> beyond completeness. The number becomes restless or
> squirmy."
> 
> This fear of 13 is strong in today's world. According
> to Dossey, more than 80 percent of high-rises lack a
> 13th floor. Many airports skip the 13th gate.
> Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.
> 
> On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between
> number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half. In
> France socialites known as the quatorziens
> (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14th
> guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.
> 
> Many triskaidekaphobes, as those who fear the unlucky
> integer are known, point to the ill-fated mission to
> the moon, Apollo 13.
> 
> As for Friday, it is well known among Christians as
> the day Jesus was crucified. Some biblical scholars
> believe Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit on
> Friday. Perhaps most significant is a belief that Abel
> was slain by Cain on Friday the 13th.
> 
> "Oops! My karma ran over your dogma!"
> 
> Yahoo! Mail
> Stay connected, organized, and protected. Take the tour:
> http://tour.mail.yahoo.com/mailtour.html
> 
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