The number 13 "devil's dozen" is a longtime companion of mankind. Attitude towards him has always been special: it was considered either unlucky or, conversely, bringing good luck. Most treated him with some prejudice. The home-keepers shuddered at the thought that 13 guests might be at their table. On the contrary, players willingly bet on the number 13, and the 13th is considered a lucky calendar day. Which one is right?
The idea that numbers are not just a means of counting, but also something that carries a magical meaning, was born in ancient times. In numerology, the number 12, Pythagoras argued, always means completeness and harmony. Hence the examples: there are 12 months in a year, the number of zodiac signs is 12, a day has 12 hours, Hercules performed 12 labors, and so on.
Since the number 13 is one more than 12, then it is beyond the limits of completeness and harmony, and therefore, the number is bad and evil. After all, after great accomplishments, chaos often sets in. Be that as it may, 13 is notorious since ancient times. The number 13 is very inconvenient in everyday life. And first of all, by the fact that it is not divided into anything but one and oneself
Number 13, "the devil's dozen" is dedicated to the book of the American journalist and writer Nathaniel Lackenmeier, published by the publishing house "Kolibri" Lackenmeier set out to find out how this superstition came about. Research led him to the conclusion that the belief that 13 is an unlucky number appeared only recently. The heyday of this superstition falls on the century before last and last.
The most popular explanation for the bad fame of the number 13 is the interpretation of the Gospel Last Supper, they say, hence the belief that 13 at the table is a bad omen. However, there are other concepts as well.
13 is a black number, because 12 witches take part in the Sabbath. Thirteenth in these gatherings was the devil. Because there are 13 months in the lunar calendar, because in the pantheon of Scandinavian gods the thirteenth is the insidious Locke, because the day of February 13 was considered by the Romans unlucky for any undertakings, because the thirteenth card in the tarot cards means “Death”.
And among the Biblical Jews, for example, numbers were designated by letters, and the number 13 got the letter M, with which the word death begins (and ends with it) in the language of the Israelites
It's funny, by the way, that the "devil's dozen" in the English version was originally "baker's dozen" and does not carry any ominous meaning in itself. It's just that when they bought a dozen rolls from the baker, he gave the 13th for free.
Promotional video:
“Some fans of the biblical texts are sure that it was on Black Friday that Eve was tempted, and on the same day Cain killed Abel. And therefore, Friday is not a day to get married: not a day to go on a trip, change a place of work, invest money: not a day to wean a baby: on Friday, you should not change the mattress and sofa, trim your nails, ferment cabbage, etc. etc. etc.
Not only that, until the end of the 19th century in many countries Friday was the executioner's day and was intended for executions."
“The only consolation for the unfortunate is their own confidence in the relative rarity of this unfortunate coincidence of the date and day of the week. In fact, in every year there is at least one Friday, which coincides with the 13th day of the month. Sometimes there are two such coincidences annually, but no more than three. „
“The threefold combination of Friday and the 13th is not repeated too often - every 11 years. If one of the Fridays in June falls on the 13th, then there will be no more such combinations during the year. If the 13th is one of the Fridays of February (2009), then another black date will inevitably follow in March."
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For those who have a panic about the number 13, a lot of historical and religious evidence has been collected to support their case.
- They say that the king of Macedonia Philip II, during one of the solemn processions, had the imprudence to add to the twelve statues of the main Greek gods a statue depicting himself. He was soon brutally murdered.
- During the last meal of Jesus Christ, in addition to the twelve apostles surrounding him, there was also the thirteenth - the traitor Judas. Perhaps it is the memory of that Last Supper that makes the staff of many organizations shudder today when they notice that there are thirteen people at their table!
- The sacred book of Kabbalah mentions thirteen evil spirits. The number 13 stands for the Serpent, Dragon, Satan and the Assassin. The 13th chapter of the Apocalypse deals with the Antichrist and the Beast.
- In Babylonia, the thirteenth month of a leap year was designated as the year of the raven, an ominous bird. Traditionally, this number is still considered unlucky. Among the celebrities who feared the number thirteen, for example, was Napoleon III, who postponed a coup d'état scheduled for the 17th Brumaire when he realized that this day falls on Friday, the 13th Gregorian calendar.
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And today the attitude towards the number 13 is ambiguous. In many hotels in the United States, for example, there is no 13th floor or 13th room. In addition, there is no seat number 13 in the planes of American airlines. In a number of large cities in France, houses that should have a serial number "13" are designated by the code 12 bis. There is no 13th issue and racers.
People diligently collect information about misfortunes and disasters associated with the number 13, confirming their superstitions and fears, although few people remember thousands of cases that occurred on other days.
- and P. Miloradova performed in the 4x7.5 km relay under number 13. Each of the athletes was part of the USSR national team. They were world-class athletes, and no one could even think of their defeat. However, something happened that no one even imagined: the strongest biathlon quartet missed a total of 13 times, reeled off 13 penalty loops after that and eventually took 13th place!
- During a golf match on the 13th in the city of Chaska in the US state of Minnesota, there was a severe thunderstorm. Lightning flashed almost every second, and one hit a spreading tree, under which the fans were hiding from the downpour. One of them was killed and five were burned. This happened not only on the 13th, but also at 13 hours 13 minutes.
- In 1930 Sir Henry Seagrave, disdaining superstition, decided to set a speed record on Lake Windermere on Friday, June 13th. Reaching a speed of 98 miles per hour on his ship, the Englishman achieved his goal. However, at the end of the race, the boat capsized and Sir Henry … died.
- Once a British optimist, who considered the number 13 lucky, managed to convince the superstitious crew of the Royal Navy of Great Britain to board their ship on Friday the 13th. This ship was nicknamed after that "Friday", its captain bore the name of Friday (in English - Friday), and it went to sea on the same Friday the 13th. Nobody heard more about this ship and its crew.
- In 1966, one of the best strikers on the planet, Portuguese Eusebio, preparing for the FIFA World Cup, almost fainted when he found out that he would play in the 13th team. Instead of going to trainings, he locked himself in a hotel room and prayed tirelessly to God to bestow good luck on him. It got to the point that special prayers were organized throughout Portugal to protect the idol from misfortune.
- Perhaps it worked: Eusebio coped with fear and played so great that he was named the best striker in the 1966 World Cup.
- “After all the games were played, the footballer told reporters: I lost 8 kilograms in weight, I could not sleep, eat, drink, think about anything other than this damned number 13! I wanted to die!"
- On Friday, October 13, 1990, a resident of Buenos Aires, Mario de Guia, went to the hospital, where he was supposed to operate on an inflamed finger. When the freeze was introduced, Mario had a heart attack. The patient was placed in an oxygen chamber, where he contracted an infection that led to inflammation of the peritoneum. But his troubles did not end there: when de Guia was transported to the ward, he fell from the gurney and broke his leg and collarbone.
- American Bob Renfrey, exactly on Friday and on the 13th, had four misfortunes: one time he fell and broke a rib, the other he fell into the river, then he was hit by a motorcycle, and finally he went through a closed glass door.
- “On one black Friday in 1998, a tragic accident happened in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. A large dog fell from the 13th floor of a high-rise building and killed an old woman walking along the sidewalk. The dog also died. A large crowd of curious people gathered. A bus passing by at high speed knocked down one of the onlookers, who died on the spot. The man who was in the crowd died from everything he saw of a heart attack."
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However, not only people, but even steamers and airplanes are sometimes associated with the mysticism of the devilish number.
- The entire Chelyuskin epic, famous in the past, took place under the sign of the devil's dozen. On July 13, 1933, the steamer Chelyuskin left Leningrad, seven months later, on February 13, it sank in the Chukchi Sea, and after another two months, on April 13, on the eve of the final breaking of the ice floe, into which the steamer was frozen, the aviators took out the last Chelyuskinites.
“A classic case is the tragedy that happened to the schooner Thomas Lawson. This non-standard sailing ship, which had seven masts, was unflatteringly christened a seven-winged monster on the slipway. The ship departed on its first and last transatlantic voyage from Monday to Tuesday, November 19, 1907. „
- “On one of the sailing days the captain of the schooner George Doe made a mistake in plotting the course and landed the ship on a rock in the English Channel. The hole was so great that the schooner sank instantly. Ironically, of the entire unfortunate crew, only one person survived - the captain himself. But the main sensation was that the ship died on Friday, December 13th. Moreover, the ship was named after the writer Tom Lawson, whose only book was called Friday, the 13th!"
“On Black Friday, May 13, 1983, at 2.10 am British Captain Peter Fyusteo took his bulk carrier Hu Vencher from London harbor to Channel. And twenty minutes later, he reported on the radio to the port that Hu Venture had collided with some ship that had no lights. After another 10 minutes, he reported that his ship ran aground."
- “Academician Maisky in his memoirs says that on December 29, 1941, a delegation from the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions arrived in England. The commander of the cruiser Kent, who was supposed to deliver the delegation, categorically stated that he could not take it on board, since it consists of 13 people, which portends misfortune. Maisky objected that in addition to 13 members of the delegation, the cruiser will also have him on board, not 13, but 14 Soviet citizens."
- Only after that the ship's commander changed his mind and agreed to land.
- The Chronicle of the most notorious aviation accidents reports on another incident related to the 13th.
- In the early 30s of the last century, the German pilot-ace Lamsdorf, contrary to all prejudices, dared to make the most difficult flight at that time from Europe to the coast of West Africa with the following initial data. His plane number was 13-13. It took off on June 13 at 13 hours 13 minutes local time and disappeared without a trace. The search for the missing person gave no results.
- In 1972, a passenger plane crashed in the Chilean Andes on Friday, October 13. Only a few passengers were miraculously saved. However, after a while they died too.
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A person's unaccountable sense of the primal fear of a devilish number led to the fact that a huge number of aircraft of most airlines in the world do not have a tail number 13, and you will not find cabins with a fatal number on any steamer.
“And this is in the age of space flight! a convinced atheist exclaims. You shouldn't dissuade him. It is much more revealing to cite a documentary fact from the life of the same cosmonauts.
In April 1970, the American Apollo 13 spacecraft took off at 13:13, and an oxygen cylinder exploded in the cockpit on its way to the Moon. The astronauts were forced to interrupt the flight according to the program, and this happened on the 13th …"
“A group of serious British scientists came to a sensational conclusion recently. Having collected a lot of facts, they analyzed them and came to the conclusion that it is on Black Fridays that the number of hospitalizations due to road accidents increases by 52 percent."
"British scientists are also supported by German experts who, based on an analysis of accident statistics, have concluded that the greatest number of accidents and human deaths occurs precisely on Black Friday and, most surprisingly, between noon and 15 o'clock in the afternoon …"
It is estimated that the superstition of US residents costs American businesses millions of dollars, since on Friday, the 13th, many of them refrain from shopping, travel and entertainment, preferring, out of harm's way, not to leave the house at all on this day.
However, even such a drastic measure may not be sufficient. Proof of this is the hard fate of the Berlin taxi driver Adolf Ackermann. In three months, he got three times on the thirteenth in car accidents. Taught by bitter experience, he finally decided not to tempt fate anymore. When the next 13th came up, he stayed at home and did not get out of bed in the morning. But Adolf did not manage to soak up her for a long time. Hearing a terrible roar on the street, he ran to the window and saw … his car crumpled into a cake, into which a truck crashed …
The British attitude to the number 13 is interesting. Traffic research on a busy highway section in England has shown that the risk of being hospitalized after a traffic accident increases by 50% on the ill-fated Friday the 13th. Maybe it's all about the increased nervousness of superstitious drivers these days?
The superstitious fear of Friday the thirteenth and, in general, the fear of the number 13, doctors call parascavidecatriaphobia.
The symptoms of parascavidecatriaphobia can range from mild arousal to feelings of hopelessness and utter despair. Superstitious people abstain from shopping, travel and entertainment on this day.
“Oil tycoon Paul Getty, US presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, avoided going on trips on the 13th, suffered from parascavidekatriaaphobia. Napoleon and Bismarck were also victims of Friday's superstition. Historians claim that the emperor never fought battles and the chancellor did not sign treaties on Fridays. Doctors, perhaps, suffer more than others from this superstition: patients stubbornly do not want to be operated on that day.
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However, there is a different relationship to the number 13
Many consider him a symbol of power and strength.
- In the divine pantheon of ancient Greece, 12 other deities obeyed the main god Zeus.
- The great Clovis (King of the Franks, AD 466-511) gave the marrying Clotilde thirteen deniers (ancient coin) "for good luck."
- The number 13 symbolizes the eternal love that Jacob and his twelve sons embodied.
- For Christians, the number 13 is also associated with the Virgin Mary, one of whose missions is to split the head of Satan.
- On the Miraculous Medal (a medal awarded to all visitors to one of the places of pilgrimage to the saints of the Catholic Church associated with the name of the Virgin Mary), the letter M, denoting Mary, is located above the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ, with which the number 13 is associated. Note that the letter M - thirteenth in a row in the Latin alphabet.
- Among the Atzecs, the number 13 was associated with the concept of time, namely, it meant the end of the time cycle. They also believed that the number 13 is somehow connected with heaven. In the hair of one of their main deities, there were 13 curls, and in the beard - 13 strands.
- The ancient Chinese erected numerous temples in honor of the god Huang-di. The emperor's servants made sacrifices in these temples on the 13th of the first and fifth months of each year.
This constant contradiction between positive and negative attitudes towards the number 13 is perfectly illustrated by the thirteenth lasso of the Marseille Tarot: on the one hand, this card, apparently because of the fear of the number 13, has no name, it is sometimes called the "Nameless lasso". She depicts and symbolizes death. But on the other hand, among the meanings of this card, such as change, rebirth to a new life, transformation often appear, which denote, though painful, but still timely and necessary changes. By the way, the thirteenth hour is at the same time the first, which symbolizes the end of one day and the beginning of a new one and is a symbol of a cyclical process - "death-rebirth".
Well, if we talk about a deck of ordinary playing cards, then the number 13 was also involved. The number of cards of each suit - hearts, spades, tambourine and clubs - is thirteen.
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In America, however, 13 is more lucky than unlucky. It is found in many American symbols. The eagle on the US coat of arms holds an olive branch in one paw, on which there are 13 leaves and 13 olives, in the other - a bunch of 13 arrows. The eagle's chest covers a shield with 13 red and white stripes. Above the bird's head, there is a cloud that frames a blue field containing 13 stars.
In his beak he holds a scroll with the inscription: "E Pluribus Unum", which translates from Latin as "Out of many - one" and means one nation, created from 13 colonies, and this motto itself has 13 letters. All these repetitions of the number 13 signify the fact that when the United States of America came into being, the country consisted of thirteen states. Thus, the history of the United States itself decreed that the number 13 became symbolic for Americans.
It seems who the number 13 really brings good luck to is the French filmmaker Claude Lelouch. To begin with, his first and last name written in French are 13 letters long. Is that why he founded his film studio on Friday the 13th, and even called it "Films 13".
The thirteenth world chess champion Garry Kasparov has repeatedly stated that this number brings him good luck. Some of us, especially those who are inclined to take risks, love to tempt fate by betting on the number 13 in gambling, especially on Fridays. When Friday coincides with the 13th, the French National Lottery organizes special additional draws of lottery tickets to meet the demand of those who find the day particularly lucky. It is said that the revival of cash flows on Friday the 13th leads to an increase in income by an average of 15-20%.
And the Chinese, on the contrary, consider the number 13 to be lucky (in Hong Kong, mobile subscribers often ask for a number with the number 13), but how are they afraid of the number 4? Why is this number called the devil's dozen only in Russia, the Baltic countries and in Scotland, and in the 19th century the world called it “the baker's dozen”? Why was the long-term struggle of the Club of Thirteen, the most influential organization, whose members were six US presidents, from Chester Arthur to Theodore Roosevelt, not crowned with success?
Harmless superstition often turns into quite material damage. Back in 1953, The New York Times reported: "Any Friday the 13th is causing the country a $ 250 million loss." Of course, one cannot but rejoice that “at the turn of the millennium, this belief occupied only the fourth place in the rating of superstitions, yielding to a stepladder (under which one must not pass), a mirror (which must not be broken) and a black cat (which it is better not to meet at all) ". However, where do you get the data that “unlucky day” is really dangerous? Indeed, on Friday the 13th, there are actually more injuries, accidents and accidents. What's the matter? Researchers concluded that the day's sinister reputation alone makes superstitious people nervous and make mistakes on the road, turning this superstition into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“The mystics believe that the number 13 is a universal force that can be both good and evil. The number 13 consists of the numbers 10 and 3. 10 is the number of force, action, and 3, on the contrary, is a sign of limitation. When combined, these numbers form an explosive mixture when the efforts being made (thanks to the number 10) fail (due to the number 3). However, a collapse is not always a defeat, not an end, but another beginning after the end of the previous cycle. Therefore, the symbol and secret image of the number 13 is not only death, but also birth. The new replaces the outdated, obsolete."
As the great Russian philosopher Vladimir Soloviev once said: “Be careful with the number thirteen. She is fraught with many surprises! You can think so.
But in principle, 13 is just an ordinary number and, if you do not focus on it, then nothing special will happen on Friday the 13th … To believe or not to believe in the mystical power of Friday the 13th is everyone's personal business. But this superstition exists and so much research is devoted to it, which is carried out by both scientists and all kinds of clairvoyants and healers.