Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Fate and Foreboding and Friday the 13

Friday the 13, and full moon, too. Shall the civilization as we know it crumble, quite literally? Maybe the aliens in Alpha Centauri will be kind enough to take us in. So much for humans being the dominant species…

Although the study on facts behind superstitions and their origins is an inexact science, if it is a science, some people refuse to go to work, won’t eat in restaurants, and wouldn’t think of setting a wedding date for Friday the 13. The doom and gloom attributed to Friday the 13 is mostly guesswork and gossip. Still many shudder with the thought of that day like foolish clowns, basing their actions on pure dinosaur-sized hearsay.

Not me, if only because I have a contrarian streak that requires me, every once in a while, to dare to make something opposite of what is typically popular. Thus, of all imponderable eventualities, I don’t get tangled in superstitions, but I only take responsibility for my fear of the dark, of the insidious unknown, of its complete destruction of my courage, totally imagined, of course.

Besides, Friday the 13th is lucky for Writing.com. The StoryMistress was born on Friday the 13. So, if anyone here has any qualms about that day, they should just “forget about it” to quote Don Corleone or the guys in Sopranos.

If a person is superstitious and believes in the crazy hype about Friday the 13, then he or she first should try to pronounce this word: Paraskevidekatriaphobia, which stands for this irrational, saturnine fear of Friday the 13th.

For those who are in the grips of this fear, let’s separate the date into its components. Number 13 stands for the baker’s dozen. Who wouldn’t want 13 doughnuts instead of 12? Maybe those people whose doctors have issued a warning. Surely, this doesn’t have anything to do with me. Just when was the last time I took my doctor’s word for a God-dictated truth? Ask my doctor. I bet he has compiled a few stories to tell behind my back.

Getting back to 13, there were 13 people at the Last Supper, akin to the 12 Norse gods at the table, until Loki showed up. Then there is Apollo 13, an unsuccessful moon mission, but the astronauts returned home safely. Let’s just say this was all a coincidence or myth, but isn’t 13 the age kids officially become teenagers? Eeeek!

Fine, even so, which parents have ever rid themselves of their kids as soon as they turned 13? The idea might have crossed some minds every now and then, but kids outgrow stuff. Don’t they? Mine did, I think. If they are not trying to pull the wool over my eyes, still.

Yet, it is fairly clear that, treated with a healthy tongue-in-cheek skepticism, there’s more to be said about Friday than the number 13; not in unlucky terms, however. Some say Friday’s bad reputation has its source in the Garden of Eden. It was on a Friday, Eve tempted Adam. Now, who can blame Eve? As a rather redundant revelation, it was the end of the work week, and poor Eve didn’t have maids or people who worked under her, with all those animals and plants to tend? Then there was that snake, and it must have been the full moon.

If a temptress, Eve was tempted, too, not in terms of dust and decay but for a glorious and desirable transformation. And ever since, who wants to admit to being alone on a Friday night? Don’t everybody candidly confess that they go bonkers on Friday nights?

Ahem…Did I tell you I was married on a Friday?


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Prompt: It is Friday, the 13th. Are you superstitious? Have odd things ever happened to you or someone you know on Friday, the 13th? Where do you think all the crazy hype about Friday the 13th began? Avoiding the 13th floor? Was it about the number that makes people nervous?