Blogpost 2: The Mystery Behind 13

December 13, 2013 – what did I do that day? Hmm.. Nothing much, I think. It was just a simple, ordinary day for me, except that we had a test. Wait, what date is it today again? December 13, 2013? And it’s a Friday?! Nah! So that day was a Friday the 13^th. A lot of people think that Friday the 13^th is unlucky. But why is it so? Is there any difference of 13 being in a Thursday? There’s nothing, right? Not just the day itself is considered unlucky but also other situations or things that concerns number 13 as well.

As a grown-up individual, it has been a part of my growing stage that my parents taught me about some beliefs.  I know, may not all but most of us know about this stuff, superstition and such. I have learned that 13 is carries a bad perception for others. Some may think that this number, 13, is something we should be afraid of. And if you do, then most likely, you are under this condition called Triskaidekaphobia.

Remember my first post? Yes, I have posted about the Fear of numbers or Arithmophobia, wherein we talked about this fear. As I have said in my earlier post, arithmophobia causes anxiety associated with numbers in general, or it may be a specific number like the mysterious number 13. This phobia of “13” is called Triskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is simply all about the unreasonable and abnormal anxiety of 13, anything that concerns this number. 

There is an article entitled “Friday the 13th Phobia Rooted in Ancient History” written by John Roach. According to that article, some people will be suspended by this phobia and they tend not to move or do something. This is because they have the mindset that Friday the 13^th won’t bring them any good but harm instead. This misinterpretation of the Friday the 13^th causes a lot of difficulties in one’s life. Particularly, because of this fear, people tend not to go to work or do their daily schedules, for those who are greatly suffering from this phobia.

In this article, it is affirmed there that according to Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, England, when talking about bad luck in any form, people who believe that they’re going to be unlucky for that instance are more likely to be believe in superstitions in conformity with bad luck.

Wiseman added, "Their beliefs and behavior are likely to be part of a much bigger worldview. They will believe that luck is a magical force and that it can ruin their lives.” He also said that people associated number 13 in every misfortune that had happened to them. “People with such feelings, he found, are more likely to be anxious on days like Friday the 13th and thus more prone to have accidents. In other words, being afraid of Friday the 13th could be their undoing.” Wiseman concluded. 

As I interpret the statements made by Wiseman, I can say that what you think is merely what is going to happen to you. Of course, if you think that something bad or harmful is going to happen to you in that day, even not during Friday the 13^th, you will be worried and you cannot focus resulting into an accident. For an instance, you are driving and suddenly you remember that it’s Friday the 13^th today, what will you think at first is that you will be meeting an accident because it is a baffle day. 
Consequently, you might not be focus on driving and the next you’ll know is that, you’re in a hospital already. Well, that’s the effect of too much anxiousness in a certain thing. 

The follow-up question with regards to this topic would be why is Friday the 13^th considered as a prognostic day? Even though we all know that it is simply a day? According to Donald 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.” Based on Dossey’s statement, it simply means that Friday and 13 are both unlucky in their own aspects. And when these two are formed together, a bad sentiment has been formed as well. 

 Also, Dossey traces where fear of 13 comes from. “It comes from 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 then on, the number 13 has been considered as sinister and portentous. 
 

Also, in that article, Thomas Fernsler, an associate policy scientist in the Mathematics and Science Education Resource Center at the University of Delaware in Newark, stated that 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. (Thus,) 13’s association with bad luck has to do with just being a little beyond completeness. The number becomes restless or squirmy.” This means, 13 being the number after 12 means beyond completeness or over. Since 12 is supposed to be the complete or perfect number.  
 

I have read another article entitled, “Triskaidekaphobia: Fear of the Number 13” written by Lisa Fritscher. This article supports the first article I have read. Stated here, Triskaidekaphobia is possibly been prevalent even in the ancient times. Aside from the myth I mention above, the Code of Hammurabi is indeed known as the oldest orientation regarding the fear of 13. Laws in Hammurabi Code are numbered, but number 13 is absent. 

Fritscher added, “Regardless of its scientific classification, triskaidekaphobia is a very real fear for many people and a folklore legend to others. It appears to be an ancient and widespread phobia whose origins may never be fully understood.”

I understood her statement as the acceptance of the 13 is up to us. It depends on our belief whether we are to consider triskaidekaphobia as true or simply a belief. 

Well, for some, fear of the number 13 might be true and real. To some, it’s just a belief and should not be depended. Personally, I can say that this is not true. Yes, you may say that I have stereotype but that is how I perceived it. That is how I accept it. For me, encountering bad luck depends on people think. Of course, what we think is what we imitate. If we think that we are going to experience a bad stuff today, then definitely, that is what we’re to get. Every time that we encounter these ‘not-so-good’ experiences, we just look for someone or something to blame. And Friday the 13^th being known in superstitions as unlucky day is what usually being blamed, right? But the truth is, we are the ones making our day unlucky and ominous, not the day, actually. Again, if we want to believe that Friday the 13^th is unlucky day, it’s our choice. It depends on how our mind processes the idea.