Having had discussed some serious marketing stuff in the past few blog posts, here is a pretty different (some what laid back) non-marketing related topic for you!
Friday the 13th!!!!
You must be wondering what does Friggatriskaidekaphobia actually mean….Well, if you haven’t already guessed it, it’s the official word coined to represent the fear that people have for Friday the 13th. If you are still in shock and wondering if people do actually suffer from that, check this out: “The Friggatriskaidekaphobia Treatment Center”. Yes, you read it right! You must be wondering if your eyes are playing tricks on you….Well, I had that doubt too, but guess what? It is real, very real! They have treatment centers that offer help to people who suffer from Friggatriskaidekaphobia!
Having established the fact that this condition is not a joke, let’s analyze how a seemingly innocent day (Friday) & date (13th) could become such terrorizing entities! Friggatriskaidekaphobia was not really a big thing before the 19th century but grew in ‘popularity’ only in the 20th century, largely due to media influence. There is very little written evidence that support any real concrete reasons for this superstition to exist but here are some of the more popular theories:
1) 12 is considered to be a complete number (12 months in a year, 12 Gods of Olympus,12 Labors of Hercules etc…) Hence, 13 being the number immediately after this ‘complete’ number is viewed to be ‘bad’.
2) With reference to the Bible, Jesus was said to have been betrayed by the 13th guest at The Last Supper.
3) Apollo 13 is the only unsuccessful moon mission during which an oxygen tank exploded.
Well, the list goes on and on…..you get the picture don’t you?
So, for all those of you out there who suffer from Friggatriskaidekaphobia or experience some sort of weird queasy feeling on this date, perhaps your fear is not that irrational after all :p
