Various superstitions surround the number 13 in many countries, ethnic groups and cultures as both an unlucky and as a lucky number. What are some of these superstitions?
Avoidance of the Number 13
Most people in the United States and United Kingdom would not plan an auspicious occasion such as a wedding to be held on the 13th day of the month. Nor would 13 people be invited to a dinner party on purpose. It is sometimes thought that if 13 people sit down to dinner together, one of them will die within the year.
Some people are actually afraid of the number 13. This fear of the number 13 is known as triskaidekaphobia.
Sometimes a Lucky Omen
Not all cultures and examples have always held the number 13 as unlucky, however. The Chinese, Hindus, and the ancient Egyptian pharoahs, for example, seem to have found the number to be rather fortunate.
Prehistoric goddess-worshipping cultures also seem to have held the number to be feminine and a good omen, as there are sometimes 13 full moons and 13 menstrual cycles in a solar year. The identification of the number 13 with the feminine may have been reason enough to consider the number unlucky as the goddess religions were undermined and repressed as the male-as-god religions took precedence in mythology, religion and socio-cultural patterns.
Examples of Unlucky Sets of 13
Nearly every count with the number 13 is considered bad luck or evil today, and so it is avoided as often as possible.
In ancient Turkey the number 13 was nearly erased from the vocabulary because of its meaning of bad luck. Many cities in the U.K. and U.S.A. do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue, and buildings do not have a 13th floor or a house number 13.
Carrying 13 letters in your name is extremely unlucky as in the so-called bad luck examples of Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Theodore Bundy. Remember also that there are 13 witches in a coven.
Patriarchal religion has held the number 13 as sometimes unlucky, while holding the numbers 3, 7 and 12 as good numbers. Judaism also sometimes uses the number as an auspicious number, however, such as the age of the boy’s Bar Mitzvah (age 12 for girls). There were twelve tribes descended from Abraham and his son Jacob.
Jesus Christ selected twelve apostles. A 13th apostle, Judas Escariot, betrayed Jesus and left the apostleship in disgrace and eventual suicide. This is a factor in the belief that 13 at a supper is an unlucky number.
Sourcs
- The Number 13. Mystical Numbers.com.
- Adams, Cecil. Why is the number 13 considered unlucky? The Straight Dope. November 6, 1992
- Wells, D. The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers , London: Penguin Group. 1987,
Paula I. Nielson - Paula I. Nielson, Ph.D., holds credentials and interests in anthropology, archaeology, religion, the Middle East and Asia.
