Friday, January 13, 2006

Friday the 13th

What is all the hoopla about on this day? I have never feared it because good things always seem to happen to me. I don't think there is anything really I could pinpoint bad happening on this day to me. Well here are some theories on why maybe people might fear this day.

You burned your toast this morning. Traffic was a mess coming to work boss is in a bad mood. Your new shirt is now sporting a fresh coffee stain. Of course. It's Friday he 13th.

But wait a minute. These misfortunes happen all the time. It's usually only a couple of times a year that we can blame our everyday woes on that dreaded day: Friday the 13th

Friday
At first glance, Friday isn't so bad. Since it's the end of the workweek for many, here's the ever-popular slogan "TGIF!" It also means payday for a lot of folks. Some say that the word Friday comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Frigedaeg," which means Frigg's day. Frigg was a goddess of love in Norse mythology. For this reason, many Scandinavians consider Friday their luckiest day.


Dr. Joe Nickell, a columnist for Skeptical Inquirer, The Magazine for Science and Reason, says that Friday does have its dark side. He says that the Bible pinpoints
Friday as the day that Eve gave the apple to Adam. In ancient Rome, Friday was execution day. And Good Friday exists because it is reported to be the day on which Jesus was crucified.


The Number 13
Thirteen has a more jaded past. For example, Judas Iscariot is sometimes referred to as the "13th" apostle.

The ill-fated Apollo 13 space mission is a study in unlucky 13: It was launched at 13:13 hours, from pad 39 (the third multiple of 13), and was aborted on April 13, 1970.

Let's not forget that many hotels and skyscrapers are built without a 13th floor -- why take chances?

But 13 isn't all bad. The United States started out with 13 colonies. Wouldn't you rather be given a baker's dozen (13) in doughnuts? If you're Jewish, you celebrate your bar mitzvah at the age of 13. And the Miami Dolphins' former quarterback Dan Marino proved that the number 13 (on his jersey) worked pretty well for him, although some might argue that it wasn't lucky enough. He never got a Super Bowl ring.


So I think all in all it is a matter of interpretation. I feel if you are going to wake up on this day and think bad things are going to happen to you, then they probably will.

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