Earphones and the Number 13

Firstly, I'd like to have a quick go at the stereo and earphones industry for clearly ripping us all off. Shame on them for making really funky headphones that advertise that they are built for people that listen to music a lot, that then promptly die on the inside (in the wires) after 3 months. I've had this happen so many times I've lost count. I don't tend to mind as much if they're cheap earphones that come free with stuff, but when you've paid 45 euros for a really nice pair of sound-blocking headphones, it's really annoying.
So people, don't buy into the scam! Get imported ipod earphones from Ebay for 5 cents (yes, they do exist) instead of forking out for a nice pair.

Ok, so now that rant's over, I'd like to turn your attention to the fact that it was Friday the 13th this week. I sort of forgot until I ended up staring at a Friday the 13th baseball cap wondering why it seemed so significant. Obviously, it's a significant day because it's THAT day... the day when people suffering from paraskevidekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th and also a word I HAD to copy-paste to spell correctly) doesn't go to work, doesn't travel or doesn't even go out to eat. The combined unluckiness of the number 13 and Friday seems to make some people really nervous, but the question is, what's the reason for this superstition?

Ok, so first, to consult Wikipedia:

Both the number thirteen and Friday have been considered unlucky:

• In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve recognized signs of the zodiac, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve Apostles of Jesus, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness.^[2] There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.
• Friday, as the day on which Jesus Christ was crucified, has been viewed both positively and negatively among Christians. The actual day of Crucifixion was the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew Lunar calendar which does not correspond to "Friday" in the solar calendar of Rome. The 15th day of Nissan (beginning at Sundown) is celebration of Passover.

But as we all know, Wikipedia is for losers, right? The above theories are all religious (and wrong- there were 13 disciples at the Last Supper), and don't really carry any real historical fact (unless you believe that all that happens in the bible is true, in which case, you have your answer already).

In an artical from Urban Legends (dot com), it is revealed that this superstition dates back as early as primitive man- they only had 10 fingers and 2 feet to count with, meaning that they could only count up to 12. 13 was a mysterious number. Also, in Ancient Egypt (huzzah!) there were believed to be 12 stages of life and a 13th beyond it- 13 therefore symbolising death. Then there's the theory that 13 represents women (of course there'd be a problem with that) and the Hindu belief that 13 people meeting in the same place is unlucky.
As for Friday, it was supposedly a Friday when Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden, when the Great Flood (you know, the Noah's Ark story) happened, when King Solomon's Temple was destroyed, execution day in Rome and Britain... yet strangely enough it used to be Sabbath Day for non-Christian religions.

It is reckoned that Friday the 13th became an unlucky day not only because of an amalgamation of these superstitions, but also because of an event that happened 700 hundred years ago. On Friday the 13th October 1307, the Knights Templar were hunted down by King Phillip IV of France and executed. However, it's only recently that the phonomenon of Friday the 13th has been talen seriously. It's not mentioned in early books on superstitions or unlucky days. It only arises in revised versions of these books, and even then, no real reason for it's unluckiness.

So maybe this day has only recently become unlucky. Maybe we're more superstitious than we were 200 years ago, and maybe this is just a phase that will pass eventually. Is there really any cause for such superstition?

I will leave you with one final thought, however; Margaret Thatcher was born on Friday the 13th.

Clockwork Monkey