Friday the 13th
Paraskavedekatriaphobia: Fear of Friday the 13th.
(try saying that 3 times fast)
A few facts or explanations on it's origins (excerpts from Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_13th
The origin of the Friday the 13th superstition has been linked to the belief that there were 13 people at The Last Supper of Jesus, who was crucified on Good Friday, but it probably originated in medieval times.
Another suggestion is that the belief originated in a Norse myth about twelve gods having a feast in Valhalla. The mischievous Loki gate-crashed the party as an uninvited 13th guest and arranged for Hod, the blind god of darkness, to throw a branch of mistletoe at Balder, the god of joy and gladness. Balder was killed instantly and the Earth was plunged into darkness and mourning as a result.
There is also another theory that Friday the 13th was the day that Philip IV of France arrested nearly all of the Knights Templar to get their money for the French treasury.
3 comments:
Paraskavedekatriaphobia...sounds Pashto to me!
I'm not even going to attempt to say that out loud.
It's funny how there'e no 13th floor in buildings (I was in one that didn't even have a 14th floor).
Once I was passing by the 666 Spadina Ave. building and I'm like, hey, I wonder if that bulding has a 13th floor. :)
I think 14 is bad luck for the Chinese.
As for the 13th floor, I always wondered what the point of that was.. since the next floor would technically still be the 13th, even if it was labelled as the 14th.
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