Number 13 and superstition fear

In the culture of many ethnic groups, the number 13 is considered as an unlucky sign, so 2013 is also being considered by many to be a year of terrible natural disasters.

According to Russian Itogi magazine, if we go to the United Kingdom, Canada or Australia, we cannot find a house with the 13th address. On the planes of all German airlines are missing the 13th row. American streets never saw buses carrying numbers 13, never on the 13th floor, nor in the rooms with the number 13.

To eliminate this number, people think of all sorts of ways. For example, some buildings may find signs with signs "12-A", "B-12" or "12 +1" in some buildings . In mental hospitals, people must "make" a special term to refer to those with allergies to "Triskaidekaphobia". Where does it come from that has a horrifying obsession with the number 13 and is there anything reasonable after that?

Judas's number

What number 13 is the crime that people call it "a dozen demons" ? Sometimes fear for him is related to the accumulation of the Lord's Supper in the Gospel, that is, Jesus' last meal with his disciples before his death. There were 13 disciples sitting with the Lord that day, including Judas. In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus turned to the disciple and said, "Didn't I choose 12 children? But one of you is a devil." And it is the 13th chapter of John's Gospel that tells of Judas' betrayal. In chapter 13 of the last book of the New Testament - Revelation describes the scary number of the beast 666.

From time immemorial, humanity began to believe that, concentrating around the table of 13 guests is a bad omen. This superstition is particularly common during the period of the terrible plague in the seventeenth century. It was at that time, people were not skeptical that the people who gathered around the table "a dozen demons" were creating extremely serious risks, because there was always one of the guests who would die unexpectedly. .

In fact, at that stage, in the risk of a deadly pandemic, even if we have gathered so many guests around the table, it is equally risky and the probability to leave to the other world for all everyone is the same. However, the heterogeneous fear of the number 13 has been increasingly consolidated and developed to the peak in the middle of the nineteenth century.

People were frightened and believed in the misfortune of the number 13 to think of a job as a 14th guest. In France, the person who played the 14th guest was invited when the owner unfortunately had only 13 guests. banquet. And so far in the Statler Hotel in Chicago it is still fine: if by chance there are only 13 guests on the table, the waiters here will put an additional 14th seat and put a dummy in a dress. Very decent guests for "good looking". The effigy was also served with attentive meals like other guests and was jokingly called the name Louis XIV.

By the way, it may not be impossible to mention the so-called "Friday of the 13th" phenomenon. To mark the fear of this phenomenon, psychiatrists also invented a special term - paraskavidekatriafobiya (fear of Friday on the 13th). Contributing to the birth of this superstition has the hands of members of the Templar Knights in the XIV century. The reason is, on October 13, 131, King Philipp IV issued an edict of charges and arrests including the most senior leadership of this organization.

Members of the Templar Knights were charged with heresy and blasphemy, many of them subjected to torture and death. The last great chief of the Templar Knights was Jacques de Molay, who cursed that fateful day (October 13, 131). Since that time, the Templar idols have always celebrated Friday on October 13 as an unlucky and tragic day. Also from here, every Friday 13 of any month is considered bad luck.

Great number

Fear of number 13 is actually just superstition. In the view of the church, it comes primarily from false fears and prejudices. According to Father Pavel Ostrovsky, Head of Uspensky Monastery Krasnogorsk city near Moscow, in a conversation with Russian Itogi magazine reporter: "We must remember that we are blacksmiths for good happiness. my misfortune - we have the right to decide this, no numbers or foreboding can take away that right, of course, if the people themselves do not value something bigger so ".

Any psychologist will say that many superstitions use as a tool to control their lives. Psychologist Irina Jakovich explains: "This is a special method of playing with fear, which is called retraining . When approaching the game, play with some terrible energy, man is equal to he wants to try destroying it ".

"Of course, we can't control anything, but an interaction with a cruel fate is also an automatic way to reassure ourselves, make us laugh or cheer ourselves up. should be more optimistic. '

People cannot live in an impersonal and systematic world; nature has put in us the need to find links and rules. People need to believe in something, there must be something to be scared of or there must be something to evade.

Psychologists explain: "We need to know dangerous areas to bypass them, so the human brain is always trying to detect this area. And finding them, we understand. that, it is necessary to learn how to deal with the cruel fate, tame it, overcome it ".

To avoid being dependent on fear of the number 13 and surpassing the ancient prejudices, 13 Americans in the nineteenth century established the "13" club in New York City. The purpose of this is to mock the superstition and abstinence for this unfortunate number.

The grand opening of the club is on Friday the 13th in room 13 and the lifetime membership fee is $ 13. In addition, at the club meeting, people often intentionally smashed the mirror and sprinkled salt. It is said that this idea made the 26th President Theodore Roosevelt so excited that he himself joined the "13" club. Currently, such meetings have become popular in the world and many "13" club branches have been developed in other cities as well. Club members insisted: Nothing terrible happened to them and the number 13 is the most beautiful figure in the world.

Pure mathematics

It is argued that the basis of suspicions for number 13 is mathematical explanation. Indeed, the number 12 represents harmony and completeness. Each year has 12 months, there are 12 characters in the zodiac; day and night lasts for 12 hours. The number 13 behind number 12 disrupts that harmony and order as if it started another cycle.

What do arithmetic think about this issue? The arithmetic Alice Moskvina in an interview with reporter Itogi said: "The number 13 is the beginning of a new cycle, but the new always contains the implicitness, so it seems dangerous. superstition and fear before the number 13 persist because of the fact that people often live inertia and are governed by old principles that do not always apply in new situation . ".

In the perspective of arithmetic, the number 13 symbolizes not only the beginning of a new cycle and breaking the relationship with the past, but also the destruction of illusions, the straightforward look at real. It is not itself lucky, nor is it unhappy.

People have no reason to be afraid in 2013. According to arithmetic Alice Moskvina: "This year is not a fateful year or contains many terrible natural disasters."