posted
Although most of us would probably affirm that superstition's role in Western culture is now a much diminished one, more a source of amusement than anything else, there are still those who allow their trepidation over particular days or dates to prevent them from engaging in their choice of activities. We may make jokes about Friday the 13th and only kiddingly instruct loved ones to exercise greater care on that day, but those who suffer from a fear of the number thirteen (triskaidekaphobia) or a fear of Friday the 13th (paraskevidekatriaphobia) may genuinely feel limited by the rumored potential for ill luck connected with the date.
The reasons why Friday came to be regarded as a day of bad luck have been obscured by the mists of time — some of the more common theories link it to a significant event in Christian tradition said to have taken place on Friday, such as the Crucifixion, Eve's offering the apple to Adam in the Garden of Eden, the beginning of the Great Flood, or the confusion at the Tower of Babel. Chaucer alluded to Friday as a day on which bad things seemed to happen in the Canterbury Tales as far back as the late 14th century ("And on a Friday fell all this mischance"), but references to Friday as a day connected with ill luck generally start to show up in Western literature around the mid-17th century.
IP: Logged |
posted
Or you just have a Happy Birthday on the 13th.
I have never been very superstitious, but every so often something happens in spite of evidence to the contrary, and i tell myself maybe i do not want to try and disprove the superstition theory, just in case it might be true.
I am sure a few people have had weird things happen to them, that could be considered superstitious.
IP: Logged |
posted
Oh, there are things I can't explain, but that is no reason to assign fanciful explanations to them.
Indeed, it isn't difficult to develop a logical proof that, if there were no things that defied logic, logic itself would fail. (Note: that does not mean the existence of such things undermines logic, just that they cannot be a part of that particular logical system. They can fit well in some other one.)
I do not have any actual information on what caused the decline of the dinosaurs, but that does not allow me to declare that some mystical and powerful being got tired of them and willfully destroyed them or allowed them to be destroyed. (If such illogical declarations are allowed to you, have fun, but don't expect me to be sucked in.)
IP: Logged |
posted
Kind of quiet around here. Everyone must be back at the casinos after winning last weekend on 7/7/07. People avoided the casinos yesterday the 13th, but are probably out there again today on 7/14/07. Two lucky 7's in the middle.
IP: Logged |