By Michael Breen
When researchers in Britain some years ago compared traffic accidents on Friday the 6th and Friday the 13th over a number of years, they made an astonishing discovery. While there were fewer cars on Friday the 13th because people chose not to drive on that unlucky day, hospital admissions because of car accidents were significantly higher.
Their conclusion, published in the British Medical Journal, was that Friday the 13th is indeed unlucky for some people. ``The risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52 percent,” the report said. ``Staying at home is recommended.”
If you haven’t left home yet, take note, for today is the only Friday 13th of this year.
Fear of the day has been around for a long time. It is known as paraskevidekatriaphobia after the Greek words for Friday (paraskevi) and 13 (dekatreis). It is also referred to as friggatriskaidekaphobia. Although this mouthful may sound like a description of what people staying at home are doing, frigga means Friday. Frigga is the Norse goddess of love and fertility who was summoned to help married women in childbirth among other things. The rest of the word means fear of the number 13.
As a child growing up, I was told that it was bad luck to break a mirror, have a black cat cross your path, and walk under a ladder. My informants were adults who I suspect now didn’t believe the superstitions themselves, but this is how myths and irrational fears are passed on. I also developed a common childhood superstition on my own of not stepping on the cracks in the pavement. However they get there, once in the mind, superstition needs a hefty shove to be removed. Thus, if you stake out a position by a ladder in the street, you will observe fearless young men consciously walking under it.
Korea used to be riddled with superstitions, most of which are long gone. But older shopkeepers still believe that it is unlucky to haggle with the first customer of the day. If you want a good price, get up early. Also, there is superstition here around the number ``4” because the word ``sa” means death. For this reason, you will find many buildings without a 4th floor in this country.
You’ll also find some without a 13th floor, although triskaidekaphobia, a word you should know by now, is an occidental, not an oriental issue, deriving, it is believed from the idea that as the number 12 means completeness ― 12 signs of the zodiac, months of the year and so on. Thus, 13 is one too many in the lifeboat and is going to be unlucky for someone.
The unluckiness of Friday is less clear. It may come from the conversion of Norse tribes to Christianity when the goddess Frigga was banished and labeled a witch.
Or the entire superstition may come from the crucifixion. Of the 13 present at the Last Supper, one betrayed Jesus Christ, who was as a result murdered, on a Friday.
The truth is we don’t know for sure why Friday 13th shuffles so eerily in the modern mind. But shuffle it does. According to some estimates ― and bear in mind that no one is an expert on this ― millions of people around the world stay home from work every Friday 13th. Others will not go to restaurants or drive. Millions more, just to be sure, would never dream of setting important events on the date.
Of course, just as shaky beginners are more likely to slip on the rock face than experienced climbers, so fearful people may well prompt the very outcome they wish to avoid.
One of my friends is both leaving his job and traveling today to on his first ever trip to North Korea. He admits the date had been a topic in the email traffic between other fellow travelers. ``Of course, it’s been noted,” he said. ``But I consider it an auspicious day to be quitting my job and going to North Korea. It’s a good omen. I feel like I’m reclaiming the day.” There you go. That’s positive thinking.
Michael Breen is an author, former foreign correspondent and the chairman of Insight Communications, a public relations consulting company. He can be reached at mike.breen@insightcomms.com.
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