Many people believe that Friday the 13th brings bad luck. Dr. Hans-Jorg Hemminger, a theologian from the Protestant Church in Württemberg, explains how and when this widespread superstition arose.
The number 13 occurs frequently in the Bible. Thirteen are the participants in the Last Supper. Judas is the thirteenth disciple of Jesus Christ. Could it be argued that the superstition surrounding “Friday the 13th” stems from these biblical facts. Dr. Hans-Jorg Hemminger explains: “Yes. The superstition that the number 13 brings bad luck most likely originates from these passages. However, there are a number of other explanations. For example, the number 12, i.e. a dozen, is always perceived as something complete, something complete and therefore as something good. 12 is divisible by many numbers, while 13 is a simple number and is not divisible by any other number. In addition, the number thirteen was considered redundant in folk beliefs she is spoken of as a devil’s dozen.” The concept of “Friday the 13th” is not so old Is the connection between the number 13 and the day Friday generally valid in the Bible? The explanation of the German theologian: “No, it is not universal at all. In the Bible, the number 13 – as a number that brings misfortune – and Friday – as a day that brings misfortune (Good Friday) – have existed separately for a long time. The concept of “Friday the 13th number” does not is so old. It first appeared in a book about magic in 1950. The same concept was used later, in 1957, by a journalist in a satire about the sinking of Aristotelis Onassis.” r Hans Jörg Hemminger. The journalist is Thilo Koch, who writes for the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In the satire, he mocks the fact that the launching of the tanker “Tina Onassis” is delayed because of the superstition – Friday the 13th brings bad luck. Did superstition exist in the time before Christ? Dr. Hans-Jorg Hemminger: “In every culture, even in the BC era, there are days and numbers that are believed to be lucky or unlucky. But they are different. For example, the ancient Germanic tribes traditionally considered Friday to be lucky day because it was the day of the goddess of love. And the number 13 is considered lucky by some, by others it brings bad luck. Today in Spain, for example, there is a superstition that Tuesday, not Friday, brings bad luck.” Does Friday the 13th have a lot of bad luck? Dr. Hans-Jorg Hemminger says: “No, in fact the opposite. Some prove, for example, that more accidents occur on Friday the 13th than on any other day of the week. But if one takes a closer look at the statistics, one will see that this also applies to any other Friday of the month that is not on the thirteenth. The reason is the particularly heavy traffic at the end of the week.” Can it be said that this is the phenomenon known from sociology, i.e. if a person imagines that something bad is going to happen, it happens. Dr. Hans-Jorg Hemminger: “Yes, it is. Whenever we expect something bad, the probability that it will actually happen increases. A person is subconsciously worried and tense, and this affects his behavior. And in the end there really is some trouble going on.”
#Friday #13th #considered #unlucky
