We Missed Friday The 13th By A Day

Although I’m probably the least superstitious person in the world, Friday the 13th is the day that I’m looking at with dread. Now this time we just missed it. But I was curious what it was all about and where the origins for the fear of an unlucky day lay. So the easiest way to find out is looking for an explanation on the Internet. Let’s see… According to folklorists, there is no written evidence for a "Friday the 13th" superstition before the 19th century. The earliest known documented reference in English occurs in Henry Sutherland Edwards' 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini, who died on a Friday 13th. He [Rossini] was surrounded to the last by admiring friends; and if it be true that, like so many Italians, he regarded Fridays as an unlucky day and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that one Friday 13th of November he died. Several theories have been proposed about the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition. One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day. In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve hours of the clock, twelve gods of Olympus, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, the 12 successors of Muhammad in Shia Islam, twelve signs of the Zodiac, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness. There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper or a Norse myth, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners. When you go and buy eggs you probably buy 12 in a carton, not 13. That would mean one egg extra in a separate package or the carton would give room for 14 with one space empty.                                       12 eggs… not 13 That would probably arouse suspicions. Where is the 14th egg??? Who took it? Besides of that the English measuring system builds on the number 12. There’s 12 inch to a foot and 12 feet to a yard. They don’t do that kind of funny thing on the European mainland. Over there it’s 10, 100, 1000… it’s called METRIC. But hey I’m straying. Let’s get back to Friday the 13th. Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales, and many other professions have regarded Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys or begin new projects. Friday is also the day when, traditionally, Jesus Christ was crucified, making it through folklore and adding to its unpopularity. One author, noting that references are all but nonexistent before 1907 but frequently seen thereafter, has argued that its popularity derives from the publication that year of Thomas W. Lawson's popular novel Friday, the Thirteenth, in which an unscrupulous broker takes advantage of the superstition to create a Wall Street panic on a Friday the 13th. Records of the superstition are rarely found before the 20th century, when it became extremely common. The connection between the Friday the 13th superstition and the Knights Templar was popularized in Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code and in John J. Robinson's 1989 work Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry. On Friday, 13 October 1307, hundreds of the Knights Templar were arrested in France, an action apparently motivated financially and undertaken by the efficient royal bureaucracy to increase the prestige of the crown. Philip IV was the force behind this ruthless move, but it has also tarnished the historical reputation of Clement V. From the very day of Clement V's coronation, the king falsely charged the Templars with heresy, immorality and abuses, and the scruples of the Pope were compromised by a growing sense that the burgeoning French State might not wait for the Church, but would proceed independently. However, experts agree that this is a relatively recent correlation, and most likely a modern-day invention. Some argue that the origin lies in a combination of Christian traditions. Friday: Christ was crucified on a Friday, thus making the day unlucky. Alternatively, both Jews and Muslims begin worship on Friday, and both groups' religions were considered blasphemous by Christians; thus, their day of worship was a day of mockery of Christianity, and therefore, a day for the Devil. Thirteen: Judas Iscariot, Christ's betrayer, could alternatively be considered the thirteenth member of Christ's close circle (Jesus plus his eleven other disciples) or the thirteenth apostle (Saint Matthias became an apostle by replacing Judas Iscariot after the latter's betrayal). According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day making it the most feared day and date in history. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed. "It's been estimated that USD$800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day". Despite this, representatives for both Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines have stated that their airlines do not suffer from any noticeable drop in travel on those Fridays. Well, wouldn’t you know it! WOW…there was a lot of learning for me. Had no idea. Well, I don’t know anybody who has died or had a bad accident on Friday the 13th. Like I said, I’m not superstitious.  But, that makes me think of what Bea some times say when I predict something bad to happen or just happen to jokingly say something negative, and she always says that in Norwegian and it sounds like this: “Det kan gå Troll i ord”  (de kan go troll i oord) Did you figure that one out? It means the Troll can be in the word. (…and make it real) So now you know. Well I haven’t seen a trolls in a long time. But i hear there are always sitting a few in the government.   Have a great Sunday!   PS.: The snow is gone, and winds have calmed down as well.