Thursday, January 12, 2006

Paraskevidekatriaphobia

It was yesterday when ashutosh ..my colleague..stopped me and mentioned "the date this friday is 13th" .... uoh!!!!thats the lst thing on earth i wanted.....cmon I have a demo to give this friday!!!
Paraskevidekatriaphobia(fear of 13th Friday) is what its called....named by Dr. Donald Dossey ...a morbid..irrational fear of this day..
The superstition associated with this day has early origins .... innumerable folklores narrate the evils omens, witchcraft, magic that can cause considerable uneasiness...many of us have used this day as an example to explain how bad the day is....I have seen people freak out on its very mention!!!

What is with these two factors that makes this day so dreadful and eerie...
Friday happens to be the 6th day of the week...which is apparently not a good day...friday rarely has been the day that has seen the advent of something good....

The aversion to number 13 is common...people prefer not numbering a 13th floor as such, of a tall building, till modern times houses have been numbered 121/2 instead of 13......no new ventures or journeys are embarked upon on 13th.....infact people go to the extreme of not venturing out of their houses on 13th....

But this fear is not completely unexplained...its has rather compelling roots...
According to the Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki...he arranged the killing of the god of joy and gladness..the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day....
In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.
Judas, who betrayed Christ was the 13th person to arrive for the the Last Supper....Jesus was crucified on Friday...its also believed the Great Flood started on a Friday
Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus....
One extra that is 13 causes restlessness...
Also the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13....is attributed by 13
This sounds crazy!!!!!
And to add to all there are series of movies called "Friday the 13th" (with varaitions of course)... picturizing horrors ...
Today the the fear has much more to do with personal experience. Backed by such evidences people suppose that the day is bad and unlucky for whatever reason...Anything that happens abnormally on this day will probably stay for long.... But if you think about it, bad things, big and small, happen all the time. If you're looking for bad luck on Friday the 13th, you'll probably find it anyways!
As for me I guess its TGIF.....thats enough to make my day!!!!!! oh but this fridays a 13th...sigh!!!
courtesy
http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/friday_the_13th.htm

1 comment:

Soumya said...

wow ..sounds pretty convincing....its all the hype i guess..nice input though!