Unlucky 13
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Thirteen may be considered a "bad" number simply because when a group of 13 objects or people is divided into two, three, four or six equal groups, there is always one leftover, or "unlucky", object or person.
It was suggested by Charles Platt writing in 1925 that the reason 13 is considered unlucky is that a person can count from 1-12 with their 10 fingers and 2 feet, but not beyond that, so the number 13 is unknown, hence frightening, hence unlucky.[4] This idea discounts the use of toes or other body parts in counting.
Some Christian traditions have it that at the Last Supper, Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th to sit at the table.
According to another interpretation, the number 13 is unlucky because it is the number of full moons in a contemporary year, but two full moons in a single calendar month (mistakenly referred to as a blue moon in a magazine article of the 1940s) only happens about every 2.5 years. [5]
Early nursery rhymes stated there were thirteen months in a year because of the natural moon cycle that was used to count the lunar year. In England, a calendar of thirteen months of 28 days each, plus one extra day, known as "a year and a day" was still in use up to Tudor times. The lunar year was the easiest to count for cultures before scientific methods existed to observe the movement of the earth around the sun, so it was associated with worship of the pagan Great Goddess[citation needed] for thousands of years, which may be another reason for 13 becoming a taboo number. Taboo often is misunderstood when only half of the totem and taboo relationship is recognized. Among religions having totem and taboo characteristics, that which is taboo on a regular basis may become quite sacred on special occasions.
In Tarot decks, the 13th card of the Major Arcana is Death. While Death is rarely interpreted literally, it is possible that this furthered the perception of 13 as an unlucky number.
Another hypothesis about the origin of Friday the 13th as an unlucky day is attributed to this being the day that the Knights Templar were slaughtered in a collaboration between the king of France and the Pope finishing with the burning at the stake of Jaques De Molay.
The legion with which Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon was the Legio XIII Gemina or the 13th legion.
If one considers 1 not to be a prime number, then 13 is the 6th prime number. 6 is sometimes considered an unlucky number due to its association with 666. Also, the number 13 was stricken from the clock, because the time 13:37 is hallowed.
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No problem ervinGPD. Glad it helped You out!
interesting... but for me, 13 is my 'lucky' number since I was born on the 13th
I've done pretty well playing 13 on roulette. Doesn't seem unlucky for Me :-)
It is seen that the Honourable kerala High court has not a bench numbering 13.WHY? There is a world wide superstition that No13 is an unlucky number. In fact No13 has scared the lives out of many. But actually, No13 is a very powerful number. The belief that No 13 is unlucky has no numerological basis.My first experiment with No13 was the study of the political fortunes of India's s former Prime Minister, A.B Vajpayee, who was in the Prime Ministers office for 3 times. This numerologist has been passionately involved with numerology for the last 20 years and found that there is no reason to isolate No13 as an unfortunate number. Certain numbers are fortunate to certain people .Similarly certain numbers are unfortunate to certain people. There is no number which is fortunate or unfortunate to all. So by that yardstick, No13 may be unfortunate to someone. The theory that number 13 is unlucky may be correct to that extent only. My first experiment with No13 was the study of the political fortunes of India’s former Prime Minister, A.B Vajpayee, who was in the Prime Ministers office for 3 times. Interestingly, he was Prime Minister for 13 days and 13 months during the first and second term respectively. Naturally, after he was voted out of office during the second term many people began to declare that number 13 did not augur well for A.B Vajpayee. At that time I, have predicted that No 13 was lucky for A.B Vajpayee and that he would return as Prime Minister after the election. The prediction was published in "The New Indian Express" daily May 17,1999.The prediction was mainly based on the fact that the upcoming election was for the constitution of the 13th Lok Sabha. Detailed Analysis Full details with which I had prepared the note for prediction are furnished below: Vajpayee was born on Dec 25,1924 . Those born on 7, 16 and 25 of any month have the birth number 7. Because, numbers 16 and 25 individually adds up to 7(1+6=7, 2+5=7).Numbers 1, 2, 4 and 7are generally lucky for such people .But in the case of A.B Vajpayee, number 4 has an additional strength. This is due to the fact that No 4 represents his name number 31 which adds upto4 (3+1=4). No 13 is lucky for him since it adds up to 4 which is his lucky number. What is a name number? In numerology, every name has a number. English alphabet from A to Z is put into 8 groups and each category consists of certain letters. The letters are assigned a particular value from 1 to 8. The groups, letters and value of each letters are as follows: 1. A, I, J, Q,Y =1 2. B, K, R =2 3. C, G, L, S =3 4. D, M, T =4 5. E, H, N, X =5 6 . U, V, W =6 7. O, Z =7 8. F ,P =8 The name number is obtained by adding together the value of the letters of that particular name .Thus the name number of A.B Vajpayee is - A+B+V+A+J+P+A+Y+E+E =1+2+6+1+1+8+1+1+5+5 =31(3+1=4) Other Factors As already pointed out, numbers 1, 2, 4 and 7 are generally lucky or influential for Vajpayee. 1. He first became Prime Minister on May 16 ,1996 .Both the date and year represent number 7,since each of them individually adds up to 7. That is ,16 adds up to 7 (1+6=7) and 1996 also adds up to 7 (1+9+9+6=25,2+5=7) 2. He became Prime Minister for the second time on March 19, 1998 (1+9=10, 1+0=1). 3. During the second term, Vajpayee undertook the historic Lahore trip on Feb 20, 1999(2+0=2). 4.He was Prime Minister for 13 days and 13 months(1+3=4). After showing the influence of numbers I,2,4 and 7 in Vajpayee’s scheme of things, the prediction was summed up as follows: 1.Election is for the 13th Lok Sabha.Since 13 adds up to 4and no 4 is lucky for Vajpayee. The coming election is likely to be in his favors. 2. The election year is 1999 which adds up to 1-his lucky number (1+9+9+9=28, 2+8=10, 1+0=1). 3. In the history of Indian democracy, no person defeated on the floor of the house and who conducted election as caretaker Prime Minister has returned to rule. Vajpayee is likely to 'break the record as the first person' (No 1 is lucky for him). Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister after the 13th Lok Sabha election and was sworn in on Oct 13,1999. Months before the election, Vajpayee had escaped a Pak shell attack on June 13, 1999 during the Kargil war. Strangely, during Vajpayee’s third term as Prime Minister the Tehelka expose hit the govt on March 13,2001.Seeing that the expose came on his lucky day, this writer predicted through The New Indian Express daily dated March 20,2001 that Vajpayee will have the last laugh in the issue. Strangely again, the attack on parliament by terrorists was on Dec, 13, 2001.1t did not unnerve Vajpayee. On the contrary, it made him more resolute and much stonger. Just one more example. Shane Warne was born on Sept 13, 1969. It was on July13, 2004 that he equaled Muthiah Muralitharans record with regard to taking the highest number of wickets. Interestingly, Warne is leaving the field after the 4th Ashes series. The above things irrefutably give credence to the fact that number 13 is not an unlucky number.
ervinGPD says:
2 years ago
Very educational, very interesting. Thanks!