Does the Fear of the Number 13 Control You?
by The number 13 and especially Friday the 13th tends to be unlucky for many people. Where does this fear originate? Does scientific research show that unlucky events happen on Friday the 13th more often?
There are so many different kinds of phobias. Some people suffer from heights, some from crowds; others cringe at the sight of spiders or snakes. But what is the common phobia called Triskaidekaphobia?
Triskaidekaphobia (from Greek tris meaning “3″, kai meaning “and”, and deka meaning “10″) is a superstitious fear of the number thirteen. The fear of Friday the thirteenth has even a longer name, Paraskavedekatriaphobia.
There are many houses with no 13th floor as the lift of this Building in Buenos Aires shows.
Image via Wikipedia
Many airlines have no seat rows numbered 13 as in this picture of a Ryanair plane with no row No.13.
Image via Wikipedia
How Did the Fear of the Number 13 Originate?
There is a legend that the ancient Code of Hammurabi (from around 1760 B.C.) skipped over the law No.13 and this shows that they avoided number 13. This is not true, as the codes are not numbered. Some people believe that this superstition about the number 13 came from the observation that Judas Iscariot, who was supposed to have betrayed Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, was the 13th person to sit at the table.
Could another theory be more plausible?
The early Church was keen to suppress all pagan religions in its territory. What they couldn’t suppress, they changed into acceptable Christian form. The Roman Saturnalia became Christmas. Friday comes from the Old Norse Freyjudagr, named after Venus, the goddess of love and sex. The male dominated Catholic Church couldn’t have a day for love and sex ad had to vilify Friday. Pre-Christian Germanic and Celtic cultures considered 13 a very lucky number. To distance them from the pagans, the Christians made the association that 13, is the evil number associated with the betrayal of Jesus and thus especially Friday the 13th was really bad. This helped the men of the Church dominate people better by terrorising them with evil and bad luck. The fact that 13, is considered unlucky only in Western countries tends to support this theory.
Scientific Research on the Fear of Friday the 13th
Researchers Scanlon et al. (1993) wanted to research how superstition affects human behaviour about Friday the 13th. They compared the number of shoppers in supermarkets, vehicles on the motorway and hospital admissions from accidents between 1971 and 1997. They found that on Friday the 13th there were more transport accidents though there were fewer cars on the road. Superstition didn’t, howver, stop people from shopping.
Dr Simo Näyhä from the University of Oulu found that risk of death in traffic was 38% higher for some women than men due to belief in Friday the 13th.
Igor Radun and Heikki Summala from the University of Helsinki (2004) compared Finnish road accident database for 1989–2002 and found that Friday the 13th does not have any effect. But there was a recommendation that “People who are anxious of “Black Friday” may stay home, or at least avoid driving a car.”
Doctors Exadaktylos, Sclabas, Eggli, Luterbacher and Zimmermann MD at the University Hospital of Berne, Switzerland also found no effect of superstition among cases between January 1, 2000 and April 13 2001.
Number of Friday the 13ths in a Year
If any year has many Friday the 13ths, does it mean that it will be a bad year globally?
2006 and 2007 both had two Friday the 13ths. In 2009, there were three Friday the 13ths, in February, March and in November. 2010 should be much luckier because it has only one, in August. 2011 also has only one in May. So, let’s hope that 2010 and 2011 will be better years than 2009 with the global recession and wars.
Is the power of suggestion so strong that if we believe in it, Friday the 13th will bring us bad luck? If we don’t believe in this superstition, and still something happens to us, could we just ascribe it to chance? Or does believing in a superstition make life more bearable?
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Post CommentFrancois Hagnere
On July 18, 2009 at 7:58 am
Very good article. I agree with you, my friend,
Very best wishes,
François
Beth Suess
On July 18, 2009 at 9:40 am
I have notice something about it…very interesting piece!
California Dreamer
On July 20, 2009 at 1:54 am
I never really thought much about it until I read this, thanks for sharing.
PhoenixRox
On July 20, 2009 at 9:10 am
A fine article.I especially liked the concluding paragraph.I do believe in the power of suggestion.But the question you have posed is a good one. Thanks for sharing!
Ruby Hawk
On July 20, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I don’t believe that I have any superstitions. My grandmother had dozens. If we went out the back door, we had to come in by the back door. We couldn’t sweep any dust out of the house or sweep under anyone’s feet. We couldn’t walk under a ladder and if a black cat crossed our path we had to cross ourselves before continuing on.They went on and on.
Julia B
On July 25, 2009 at 9:26 am
Nice one though I don’t believe in such stuff.
deep blue
On August 11, 2009 at 2:46 am
If the number 13 is pure bad luck then I’m jinxed. I once joined the Police Force and I was the 13th recruit on the applicant’s list. I made it through somehow and even gone as far as flight training courtesy of the service which allowed me to acquire my private pilot’s license. Sad thing was the training plane did crashed before I got released and we had an instructor and my buddy who perished on the accident. I didn’t mean to emphasize that I’m not that vulnerable for maybe I was. The aircraft’s tail number was 85 and the office order no. entailing my inclusion on the flight training was 2004-013.