[Loch-Ruadh] Friday the 13th

Connie Nurmi cnurmi at sbcglobal.net
Fri May 13 07:35:02 PDT 2005


Anwen (Wendy) my daughter was born on Friday the 13th.
Vigulf my son 13 days late
13 is my lucky day
I will not let it win and have a great day
Constance

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!"



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