Unlucky Thirteen
Esam Rosado
Strikingly folkloric aspects of the number 13 have been noted in various cultures around the world: one theory is that this is due to the cultures employing lunar-solar calendars (there are approximately 12.41 lunations per solar year, and hence 12 "true months" plus a smaller, and often portentous, thirteenth month). This can be witnessed, for example, in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" of Western European tradition.[1]
The number 13 is the sixth prime number. It is a twin prime with 11, as well as a cousin prime with 17. It is the second Wilson prime, of three known (the others being 5 and 563),[2] and the smallest emirp in decimal.[3]
In Catholic devotional practice, the number thirteen is also associated with Saint Anthony of Padua, since his feast day falls on June 13. A traditional devotion called the Thirteen Tuesdays of St. Anthony[13] involves praying to the saint every Tuesday over a period of thirteen weeks. Another devotion, St. Anthony's Chaplet, consists of thirteen decades of three beads each.[14]
According to famous Sakhi (evidence) or the story of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, when he was an accountant at a town of Sultanpur Lodhi, he was distributing groceries to people. When he gave groceries to the 13th person, he stopped because in Gurmukhi and Hindi the word 13 is called terah, which means yours. And Guru Nanak Dev Ji kept saying, "Yours, yours, yours..." remembering God. People reported to the emperor that Guru Nanak Dev Ji was giving out free food to the people. When treasures were checked, there was more money than before.
The number 13 is considered an unlucky number in some countries.[18] The end of the Mayan calendar's 13th Baktun was superstitiously feared as a harbinger of the apocalyptic 2012 phenomenon.[19] Fear of the number 13 has a specifically recognized phobia, triskaidekaphobia, a word first recorded in 1911.[20] The superstitious sufferers of triskaidekaphobia try to avoid bad luck by keeping away from anything numbered or labelled thirteen. As a result, companies and manufacturers use another way of numbering or labelling to avoid the number, with hotels and tall buildings being conspicuous examples (thirteenth floor).[21] It is also considered unlucky to have thirteen guests at a table. Friday the 13th has been considered an unlucky day.[18]
A baker's dozen, devil's dozen,[31] long dozen, or long measure is 13, one more than a standard dozen. The thirteenth loaf is called the vantage loaf because it is considered advantageous overall to get 13 loaves for the price of 12.[32]
In Arthurian legend, which was recorded in Medieval texts, King Arthur is resting in Avalon with the twelve greatest knights of the Round Table, totalling 13, and will return when his country is in peril.[33]
In Judaism, 13 signifies the age at which a boy matures and becomes a Bar Mitzvah, i.e., a full member of the Jewish faith (counts as a member of Minyan). The number of principles of Jewish faith according to Maimonides. According to Rabbinic commentary on the Torah, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy.
The number 13 is synonymous with bad luck. It's considered unlucky to have 13 guests at a dinner party, many buildings don't have a 13th floor and most people avoid getting married or buying a house on a day marked by this dreaded number.
"No data exists, and will never exist, to confirm that the number 13 is an unlucky number," said Igor Radun of the Human Factors and Safety Behavior Group at the University of Helsinki's Institute of Behavioural Sciences in Finland. "There is no reason to believe that any number would be lucky or unlucky." [10 Weird Things Humans Do Every Day, and Why]
Radun might very well be correct, but there are a few bits of scientific research that have given superstitious folk a little more cause for concern, even if the scientists who performed the work aren't necessarily alarmed by their findings.
For starters, a 1993 study published in the British Medical Journal indicates otherwise. Researchers analyzed the traffic flow and number of injuries from car accidents on the southern section of London's M25 motorway during the five months that the 13th fell on a Friday between 1990 and 1992.
But before triskaidekaphobics, or those who fear the number 13, say "I told you so," it should be noted that although the data were authentic, the authors didn't mean for their conclusions to be taken seriously.
"It's quite amusing and written with tongue firmly in cheek," said Robert Luben, a researcher at the school of clinical medicine at the University of Cambridge and one of the study's authors. "It was written for the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal, which usually carries fun or spoof articles."
"(Some people) clearly didn't understand that the paper was just a bit of fun and not to be taken seriously," Luben told Life's Little Mysteries. "Many also assumed that the authors were 'believers.' I'm sure that most of these people hadn't read the paper, which suggests that people being superstitious affects their behavior."
Since the 1993 study, other studies have been written showing that it's just women who have more accidents on Friday the 13th, with further studies determining that that's actually not the case. Other research results attempting to measure just how unlucky the number 13 is are mixed.
For example, in 2005, the United Kingdom newspaper The Telegraph analyzed the winning lottery balls dating back to when the UK National Lottery began in 1994. They found that the number 13 is the unluckiest ball, since it was drawn a total of 120 times since 1994, compared with the luckiest ball, number 38, which was drawn a total of 182 times. But, "of course, there is no way of predicting which balls will be luckiest in the future," the article cautions.
"Unfortunately, most of studies dealing with Friday the 13th and the number 13 are solely focused on statistical data, such as accident data, stock exchange data, etc., without any attempt to establish a 'direct' relationship between belief, or superstition, and behavior," said Radun, who is co-author of the 2004 study "Females Do Not Have More Injury Road Accidents on Friday the 13th," which was published in the journal BMC Public Health.
Luben agrees that studies about statistics surrounding the number 13 should acknowledge how people's superstitions influence how they act. He wrote in his study that "superstitions affect behavior in all cultures in all parts of the world in some form or other." So whether you vow to never play the number 13 in a lottery or declare that 13 is your lucky number just to go against the grain, the stigma surrounding the number still influenced your decision.
But many triskaidekaphobics, who count author Stephen King and former president Franklin Roosevelt among their ranks, don't need statistical evidence or hard facts to back up their conviction that the number is truly cursed. As with any superstition, no matter how irrational it may be, some people will still choose to believe in it.
Welcome, cosmic warriors. I'm Aliza Kelly Faragher, your resident astrologer, and this is Allure Astrology, a column dedicated to astrology, esotericism, and all things magick. Today, we're talking about the history of the number 13. Is fear of this number, also known as triskaidekaphobia, merely silly superstition, or is it something more?
People tend not to shop, travel, or schedule important events on Friday the 13, and according to CNBC, businesses lose hundreds of millions of dollars because of it. And while no one really knows why the number 13 has such a bad reputation, over the years, several convincing theories have been posited as to why the figure is so haunted. Below, read the three main reasons why the number 13 is steeped in superstition.
The most common theory that explains why the number 13 is deemed unlucky is actually based on Biblical Christianity. During the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles before his crucifixion, Judas was believed to be the 13th guest. It's no surprise, then, that the earliest incarnation of the number 13 superstition related to seating arrangements.
The Thirteen Club's agenda was simple: Sit a group of 13 people for dinner to prove that no one would die after a year. Despite the fact that The Thirteen Club boasted some influential members (including several United States presidents), it still had a difficult time recruiting members: No one wanted to be the 13th guest.
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There are certain events that occurred that may contribute to the belief in this superstition. For example, the Apollo 13 was a space mission that was supposed to land on the moon. On April 13, 1970 there was an explosion that halted the mission and they had to return back to Earth. There may have been people following this mission with a preconceived idea that this mission was going to fail simply because of the mission number. A more specific unfortunate event that occurred was in England. There was a 13th year old teenager who was struck by lighting on Friday the 13th. He was said to been struck at 13:13. Fortunately, he was able to make a full recovery. Things like these happen and people feel no reason to believe that the number 13 is not bad luck. So they avoid it at all cost and become afraid of it. However, 13 is just a number and these events most likely would have happened regardless. It was just a coincidence.
I am always fascinated by peoples belief that 13 is an unlucky number. Like you said, this belief is driven by a lot of confirmation bias. If we wanted to we could look for evidence that any number is unlucky. For example, there are bad things that happen on the 15th all the time, but we are creating associations between bad and this number. What do you think is the reason people got stuck on the number 13, is it because of the biblical references?
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