Friday, the 13th - Just a myth?

Do we still believe in superstitions? I am not as sure as I should be that in this day and age where people are already so tangled in their lives to even care about that maybe it’s all happening due to a ‘curse’ or whatever the theory may be, it varies from person to person. But deep inside, I want to believe that a part of us, however minor, still gets taken aback if only a step when something that is not considered to be particularly usual or lucky happens.

There is this most common one that if you come across a black cat while going somewhere, you should just drop the idea of going wherever you were planning to. You might end up in an accident or the purpose you are going for would not be fulfilled. Ok read that again and read it with past tense because now when that black cat comes across anyone, they get taken aback for a second but move on anyway because what has a cat got to do with turning something into being unlucky for a human! May be that sounds stupid or inappropriate but its definitely not worse than believing that a black cat can actually ruin something!

So even though, we are a bunch of educated, sensible people, how many of us can completely deny giving a thought to anything similar that may have happened to us in all this time? I can’t deny it because it was only yesterday when I was looking through the calendar on my phone that it struck me really hard that next Friday is going to be marked as the 13th of February. Let’s cut out the month here and what is left is Friday the 13th.

Friday the 13th is called a paraskevidekatriaphobia (a specialized form of a phobia of the number 13) and is considered to be the unluckiest days of all unless you were born on this day and date (in that case it is a lucky day). Now coming to them one by one, Friday is considered unlucky because one of the myths about it states that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Other myths also include the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel and the death of Jesus Christ all happened on Friday. As far as luck, this day of the week and we are concerned, it’s the last day at school followed by two days off. Now that can’t count for being lucky, can it? It can be a good day but not lucky so I’m totally buying the myths about Friday.

The number 13 is considered unlucky because generally speaking, 12 is a whole and even number (not to forget it just sounds right!). Numerologists consider it as a ‘complete’ number because there are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of zodiac, et cetera. But when this number 13 exceeds the ‘complete’ number of 12 by 1, it is said by Fernsler that this association of 13 with bad luck “has to do with just being a little beyond completeness as the number becomes restless or squirmy’.

We can say that its all just in the movies now but logically, these fears and superstitions control only those who allow themselves to be controlled. Even though now room number 13 in hotels is usually avoided and there are some streets that still do not have a house number 13, we can still pass this day as any other day, right?