When did Friday the 13th start being considered unlucky? And why? There's of course some speculation it's about Judas being the twelfth Apostle, and thus thirteenth member of Christ's cohort, plus Good Friday. Maybe, but there's no evidence of this convention being floated before the nineteenth century. Presumably by someone for whom everything else went great the rest of the year. Or at least that sound like it might cause some bias.
For the record the bus I was waiting for first thing this morning came 15 minutes late, and there were some funky delays after that. So I had to hustle and run after my connecting bus, but I did catch it. After that, the day went pretty well.
For the record the bus I was waiting for first thing this morning came 15 minutes late, and there were some funky delays after that. So I had to hustle and run after my connecting bus, but I did catch it. After that, the day went pretty well.
2 comments:
That was an interesting article about the history of Friday the 13th being unlucky. I knew about the superstition related to the Crucifixion and that being the reason not to have 13 guests at a dinner table or a 13th floor in building (long an amusement for Europeans), but hadn't heard about Rossini or any of the others.
It's also interesting to think there are cultures that find it a lucky number - ie, the Greek god Zeus was the 13th and also the most powerful. Besides that there are 13 cards in each of the four suits of a deck; the four seasons each have 13 weeks; and children become teenagers at 13. There are likely more but that's enough to go on for now.
I'm glad your day went well after your first bus arrived late. I wonder if the driver took an extra few minutes to decide to go to work that day.
According to that Rossini story Italians not only considered 13 an unlucky number but also felt the same way about Fridays in general. Does that mean that there's no Italian equivalent of TGIF? Maybe things have changed since then.
I've heard somewhere that the modern suits of playing cards are stylized from the tarot deck. Not sure about it, but there's circumstantial evidence at least. And the tarot is rooted in Hermetic practice, which takes elements from both Greek and Egyptian mythology. So it's possible - admittedly there's some speculation here - that Zeus being the 13th god and the 13 cards in each suit is more than coincidence.
The bus wasn't full at all but at that hour she'd likely have picked up and dropped off a lot of riders, and if there's something like a wheelchair that adds more time. Still, maybe she did spend a while staring at the alarm clock. :)
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