Friday the 13th
Superstitious Great minds avoid crucial meetings in fear of the occurrence of weird events. Many individuals phobic of this day tend to get nervous as the date approaches. With the western superstition and related biblical events, the Friday the 13th has always been perceived to be scary. For centuries, as many individuals hold fast to their beliefs, negative superstitions have whirled around the numeral 13. Numeral 12 has always been historically linked with completeness such 12 months and twelve Israel tribes in the western cultures compared to the tragic successor 13 thus earning it the term triskaidekaphobia. Superstitious individuals occasionally argue the ancient negative relations of 13 from the fact that the code of Hammurabi left out the 13th law from the list of legal rules. Though it was interpreted as a clerical error.
From the biblical events, the last supper and crucifixion of Jesus Christ 13 people attended-12 disciples and Jesus Christ. The 13 guests gathered on the table was perceived to be a bad omen, as it was courting death as per the Christian superstition. The 13th guest betrayer, Judas Iscariot, is linked to number 13 and regarded as imperfect connected with 12, a replica of the number of months in a year. Similarly, it’s a coincidence with the myth of Norse where a Valhalla dinner party was crashed by Loki with consequent immediate chaos and destruction of the 13th guest. Though how weak are the negative association of Friday the 13th, just as Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday, Christian tradition point Friday as the day Cain killed Abel. Hence, several sincere Christians have faith on this date to be tragic.
The rise of this belief was associated with negative events and calamities dated back in ancient times since the code of Hammurabi that apparently from its written legal codes left out the 13th law. Not only translators have such superstitions but also the greatest minds in ancient history have persisted on such superstitions. Triskaidekaphobia was a severe case to Arnold Schoenberg, the Australian-American composer, whose later works omitted numbering 13th measure but instead used 12a. Similarly, he was reportedly afraid of passing away at an age or year that was a manifold of 13. Arnold’s colleague suggested that it will be the unlucky year because of the summation of 7 and 6 summed 13. In a coincidence, when he turned 76, he passed away that year, Friday the 13th of July, 1951.
On Friday 13th October 1307, hundreds of Knights Templar were arrested and tortured by King Phillip IV of France thus more believes in the superstition and increased fear linked with 13th specifically when the templars were executed. Regardless of how murky the truth is, templars are linked as the origin of the Friday the 13th. The fall of legendary warriors’ groups - the Knights Templar, is linked with Friday the 13th. The knights' templar became rich and influential in the middle ages. Throughout western Europe, the knights' templar established castles systems, banks, and churches which was the wealth that would bring about their flop.
A belief in Friday the 13th remains the superstitions that have influenced the behaviors of multitudes. Therefore, this ill-starred day is not unusual. However, from the statistics, the risks of death that happened on this particular day were higher compared to other days. “Generally speaking, I find that this occurs because the bad outcome springs to mind and is imagined more clearly following the jinx,” she explains. “People use the ease of imagining something as a clue to its likelihood.”