[the crisp, dry rustle of pages, a slurp of liquid, and a quiet cough precede Ray's voice piping up into the journal]So, hey, tomorrow's Friday the 13th. Back where I'm from, it's a day full of all kinds of superstitious implications, so I figured it might be a good idea to tell you all a little bit about it in advance. Not much advance, I know, but -- I just realized it was gonna be the 13th this morning, so - I've been refreshing my memory.
The whole superstition isn't as old as it could be, really. The earliest written record of it, in English, anyway, was in the journalist Henry Sutherland Edwards' biography of a composer named Gioachino Rossini, in 1869. It was the day the guy died, and in mentioning it, Edwards basically said it was a confirmation that the day was unlucky. Why it didn't show up in writing before then is anyone's guess, though, because there are scads of reasons why 13's an unlucky number. To start with, in numerology, 12 is the number of completeness: Jesus had 12 apostles, there were 12 high gods on Mount Olympus, there are 12 hours on a clock, and 12 tribes in Israel, among a bunch of other things. It's probably why baked goods traditionally come in dozens, too. There's a related superstition that having 13 members in a traveling party is bad luck.
[another sip of his tea, and he keeps right on rambling] As for how Friday works into it?
That started showing up in old wives' tales around the mid-seventeenth century - that's the 1600s for those of you keeping track. That links back to the Bible, too, though, since a lot of the more unlucky events are purported to have happened on Friday. Christ's crucifixion, Noah's flood, and the temptation of Adam in the Garden of Eden are three of the biggies. And to top it all off, the mass arrest of the Knights Templar is rumored to have been on a Friday the 13th, too. Which ... is really kind of funny, when you think about it, because Friday's named for Freya or Frigga, the Norse mother goddess, wife of Odin.
Though really, depending on who you ask, Frigga and Freya are two different godesses, or they could be aspects of a Triple Goddess, or just the same woman with different names ... [AHEM] Anyway, NOTHING to do with the Bible, Norse goddesses. Not a thing.
So that's where the superstitions came from, but what exactly ARE they? Both Fridays AND the thirteenth of a month are rumored to be really nasty choices as far as when to start a new project, or move, or basically change a routine. But generally, it's just a big catch-all for bad luck. A lot of black cats and dogs crossing your path, ladders to walk under, cracks to step on, that sort of thing.
I know, it doesn't sound like much in the scheme of what Paradisa throws at us, yeah? But consider this: fear of Friday the 13th - or
paraskevidekatriaphobia, from the Greek - was reported in a sociological study to be the most commonplace phobia in the United States. There's scientific evidence to back it up, too: hospital admission as a result of a transport accident statistically increased by as much as 52 percent on Friday the 13th. So it's no wonder a lot of superstitious people stay at home when it rolls around. ... Honestly, though, as with any type of luck, a lot of it's all will and thought-based. Keep your thoughts positive, and you should be just fine. Oh, and hey - if you're Chinese or Egyptian? Don't worry about it so much. In those cultures, thirteen's actually a
lucky number.
Once again, I'm Dr. Ray Stantz, it's been a pleasure enlightening you all. If you've got any other questions, I'll be here in the library.
((OOC: And now, like a good researcher, I cite my sources. About.com | Wikipedia (with use of outward links for Freya, Edwards & Rossini) | Snopes THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT.)) ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
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