Fear of the number thirteen, that is. Even more specifically "paraskavedekatriaphobia", a fear of Friday the 13th - today! The Western superstition seems to be linked to number at the Last Supper (Jesus and the Twelve Disciples) and day of Christ's crucifixion. The earliest known English reference to Friday the 13th was in a nineteenth century biography of the composer Rossini who was said to regard the day as unlucky. Ironically, he died on Friday 13th November 1868!
At the Savoy Hotel, if there is a party of thirteen then an extra place is laid for a wooden Art Deco cat called Kaspar, a tradition begun by the French who employed a person called a "quatorzienne". Some airlines do not have a row thirteen and some hotels do not have a thirteenth floor. A study in the United States has found that over 20 million Americans are affected by a fear of this day while in the United Kingdom there is a slight rise in traffic-related accidents.
This is the only month in 2008 which has a Friday 13th. However next year there are three such months - February, March and November.
1 comment:
You top google's list when querying quatorzienne. Needed backup to convince someone. I knew it to be a person who was always available to fill the fourteenth place at dinner in an emergency. thanks
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