Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number thirteen. It relates specifically to a fear of Friday the 13th. That would be today! Many cultures around the world view the number thirteen as unlucky. And Friday the 13th as the most unlucky day. So how did a number get such a bad rep?

There are a number of theories about how thirteen came to be known as unlucky. And Friday the 13th specifically. In numerology twelve is a number of completeness. Twelve months of the year, twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve hours of the clock etc. While thirteen is considered to be irregular. Combine that with the belief that Friday is an unlucky day and you get a great premise for a movie.

If you look at buildings with more than twelve floors the elevator buttons jump from twelve to fourteen. I don’t know why. They’re not fooling anyone. If you live on “fourteen” you actually live on the thirteenth floor. I would love to see the number thirteen on an elevator button.

I loved it when I read about a group in New York that formed a dinner cabaret club called Thirteen Club in 1881. They laughed in the face of the number thirteen. The first meeting was on Friday January the 13th, 1881 at 8:13 PM. They had thirteen people. They ate in room thirteen. After that similar clubs sprang up. But when people became less superstitious the clubs died down.

There is a ton of information out there on these subjects. I find it all fascinating. Even though I am superstitious when it comes to some things, I’ve never considered thirteen or Friday the 13th to be unlucky. For more on Triskaidekaphobia and fear of Friday the 13th check out this article and this article at Wikipedia.

In 2013 my birthday falls on Friday the 13th! Cool.

Off to work.

Until next time…

Cindy