Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Are you spooked today? If you are then you have Paraskevidekatriaphobia !! The fear of Friday the 13th. Whew! I never would have imagined that there is a word in the dictionary for this. The superstition that a Friday on the 13th day of a month is not a good sign is actually widepread and it dates back to ancient times. In America, it is the most widespread superstition. People do not drive, won't eat in restaurants, no important function like wedding or starting something new on a Friday if it happens to be the 13th. And I thought only us Indians had such superstitions!

A Friday occurring on the 13th day of any month is considered to be a day of bad luck in many superstitions. The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia, a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a phobia (fear) of the number thirteen.

The origins of the Friday the 13th superstition has been linked to the fact there were 13 people at the last supper of Jesus, who was traditionally crucified on Good Friday, but it probably originated only in medieval times. Another suggestion is that the belief originated in a Norse myth about twelve gods having a feast in Valhalla. The mischievous Loki gatecrashed the party as an uninvited 13th guest and arranged for Hod, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Baldur, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Baldur was killed and the Earth was plunged into darkness and mourning as a result. Yet another belief is that the arrest of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and 60 of his senior knights on Friday, October 13, 1307 by King Philip IV of France is the origin of this superstition. That day thousands of Templars were arrested and subsequently tortured. They then 'confessed' and were executed. From that day on, Friday the 13th was considered by followers of the Templars as an evil and unlucky day.

Here in Delhi too I have come across couple of guys who were talking about being careful today. On my saying that it was just a superstition, they justified by quoting the tragic incidence of the Upahaar Cinema fire. It was a Friday the 13th in 1997 when a fire engulfed Uphaar cinema hall in Delhi, in which around 59 people lost their lives. I remember there used to be a Trojan which used to affect computers if the date happened to be Friday the 13th. Atleast that is what I remember having read somewhere. Well atleast is perfectly believable. So the first thing I did today on logging on to the office network was to disable the anti-virus of my machine, in hope that my machine would get concked off and I wouldn't have to work today! Alas nothing happened! As you can see its still working fine and I am getting back to my work.

Well I didn't know that some guys who actually wait for my post. Thanks Kalbums, yes I will definitely post more regularly and Naresh I am working on that Animal Adventure.

Cherio