# Superstitions - paraskavedekatriaphobia



## RoseO

MOD NOTE:

This thread is the result of three threads all on the same subject being merged. When threads are merged the posts slot in with each other in date order. The first post is from January 2006.


I see from the 2006 calendar that January has a Friday the 13th. Is that date considered to be bad luck in countries other than the US? Does anyone know the origin of that superstition?

Happy New Year to all!


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## fenixpollo

Thanks to Edwin for this link, which he posted in this thread (mostly in Spanish).  Cheers!


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## RoseO

Thanks for the information.  I guess I'll be carrying my rabbit's foot and four-leaf clover on that day...wonder if they will work in Spain on Tuesday the 13th?


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## Waterfall

Does anyone know why in Spain or perhaps generally in countries south of the Alps superstitious people are careful on MARTES 13 and in Anglo-Saxon countries it is VIERNES 13 ???

The 13 is supposed to go back to the last supper ( ??? ) and is generally applied when talking about bad luck in room 13 / floor 13 etc.

I would appreciate any ideas

Waterfall


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## danielfranco

I've always heard in Mexico that Tuesday 13th is the day to beware. It wasn't until I moved to the States that I heard Friday 13th to be the bad luck day.
It goes back to the time a Pope decided that the Templar Knights were too powerful and rich to be countenanced, and so they conducted an assassination plot across many countries and got rid of most of the Knights in one day, Friday 13th.
Or so it would seem...
Dan F


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## Waterfall

Yes, lauranazario, you are right. 

I am aware of the story of Jaques de Molay being burnt on the stake on Friday 13th in 1291 ( ??? ) and pridicting the death of king and pope within a year, but still no reason why Thuesday and Friday. Perhaps the Templars were much stronger in the south and therefore the superstition took hold only further north ????
Hmmm...


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## Seana

Last time I leart little bit exotic word *paraskavedekatriaphobia *I have not known it earlier.

Do you know what does it mean?
Are people in your country superstitious?
*What's your opinion-how superstitious are you?*
* 
*


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## .   1

Paraskavedekatriaphobia means fear of Friday the Thirteenth.
I am not superstitious.
If it makes them happy I am happy for people to have any superstition that they want.  It does not effect me in the slightest.

.,,


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## Sallyb36

I'm not superstitious either, but I think that quite a lot of people in the UK are.  Lots of people won't walk under ladders (although that's more of a safety issue than superstition sometimes!).


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## Victoria32

Sallyb36 said:


> I'm not superstitious either, but I think that quite a lot of people in the UK are.  Lots of people won't walk under ladders (although that's more of a safety issue than superstition sometimes!).


I debated with myself the last time this situation arose... walking around the ladder meant walking in the road, walking under meant risking a paint stain on my going- to-work suit... 

I didn't even notice it was Friday the thirteenth! 
(It's 23.22 here, and so the 13th is nearly over.)


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## ireney

Seana said:


> Last time I leart little bit exotic word *paraskavedekatriaphobia *I have not known it earlier.
> 
> Do you know what does it mean?
> Are people in your country superstitious?
> *What's your opinion-how superstitious are you?*
> *
> *



I know what it means (easy since they follow the traditon of using Greek to name phobias.
No more or less than people in other countries I guess. We don't have Friday 13 as our bad-luck day by the way; for as it's Tuesday the 13th (Triti kai deaktris). The maine superstition our here is the "eye". If, for example , you are particularly nice, an envious person may give you the "bad eye". Here you'll see pictures of Greek (the photo on top), Turkish (the airplane) and Hebrew variant of the "good eye" protection.
Personally I don't believe in such things. Luck exists only if defined as things you haven't (and sometimes couldn't) take into consideration.


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## Seana

I have found two interesting but opposing opinions about it.
Quote
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said *"Superstition is the poetry of life." *
- British statesman Edmund Burke said that *"Superstition is the religion of feeble minds."*

Today is Friday the 13th. This day is seen by Polish people as very unlucky, we often talk "today is Friday the 13th, be careful". 
And even worse if the black cat would run across our way... then the bad luck is sure.



			
				ireney said:
			
		

> No more or less than people in other countries I guess. We don't have Friday 13 as our bad-luck day by the way; for as it's Tuesday the 13th (Triti kai deaktris).


 
PS Ireney, what it could be called the fear of Monday?


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## Sallyb36

British statesman Edmund Burke said that "Superstition is the religion of feeble minds."
I like this one!

Also, some superstitions vary from country to country, in the UK a black cat crossing your path is considered lucky.  If the left ear itches it means someone is saying good things about you, if it's the right ear they are saying bad things, we say "left for love, right for spite", but in Spain i believe it's the other way round.


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## TimeHP

In Italy we have Friday 17 as our 'bad-luck-day', but no one really fear it, I think.
We have many other superstitions anyway.
I don't think that superstition has nothing to see with feeble minds.
It's more connected with our religious rituals and with the need to control some aspects of the life that can't be controlled.    
Ciao


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## Victoria32

TimeHP said:


> In Italy we have Friday 17 as our 'bad-luck-day', but no one really fear it, I think.
> .............
> Ciao


The 17th? Odd......... Do you know why?


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## zebedee

There are some other threads open on very similar subjects which I think you'll find interesting:

Black cats (in Spanish)
Gestures and beliefs which starts off talking about superstitious and religious gestures and digresses to superstitions in general
Ni te cases ni te embarques (in Spanish)


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## french4beth

Some people are superstitious about Friday the 13th, but there's no widespread panic in these parts.

I saw several references on-line Judas Iscariot was supposedly the 13th guest & "died at his own hand" shortly thereafter. From snopes.com:





> Many different sources for the superstition surrounding the number thirteen have been posited, the most common stemming from another Christian source, the Last Supper, at which Judas Iscariot was said to have been the thirteenth guest to sit at the table. (Judas later betrayed Jesus, leading to His crucifixion, and then took his own life.)


 
In this article, it is suggested that if there were 13 dinner guests, 





> Superstition held that the victim would be the first person to rise from the table (or the last one to be seated), leading to the remedies of having all guests sit and stand at the same time, or seating one or more guests at a separate table.


 
It must have been considered to be much more unlucky back in the 20th century since some buildings do not have a floor listed as number 13 (same source as above): 





> Once again these ill omens were avoided through artifice, such as the renumbering of rooms in hotels and inns to eliminate any Room #13's, and misnumbering the floors above the 12th floor in multi-story buildings so that tenants could pretend 13th floors were really 14th floors.


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## Lusitania

It's the bad luck day here: friday 13th. In fact, it couldn't got any worse


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## french4beth

Come to think of it, people were _extremely_ apprehensive on June 6, 2006 (6-6-06) but of course, nothing came of it.

Personally, I got the jitters in a *big* way after the plane crash in New York City on Wednesday...


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## ireney

Seana said:


> PS Ireney, what it could be called the fear of Monday?



Hehe

Ok these are the phobias for everyday of the week (mind you, I made them up by using Greek)

Deuterephobia
Tritephobia
Tetartephobia
Pemptephobia
Paraskevephobia
Sav(v)atophobia
Kyriakephobia

If there's a specific date you are afraid, it looks as if all you have to do is add its number after the name of the day! (but I am drawing the line here; a day's list OK, a 31 numbers long list is too much I think)

P.S. I know it's a list but I had lots of fun making it


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## maxiogee

*Irishman* (and British statesman) Edmund Burke said that *"Superstition is the religion of feeble minds."* 

And he should know. Born to a Catholic mother and a Church of Ireland father, he was educated at a Quaker school.
As an MP he was frequently accused of having "Catholic sympathies" at a time when to have been a Catholic would have disqualified him from being an MP. 

Hmmmm, "Catholic sympathies" —> now who does _that_ remind you of?


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## Seana

ireney said:


> Deuterephobia(...)If there's a specific date you are afraid,


 
Thank you very much, Ireney.
Oh yes, there is fear of every Monday because after weekend I am forced to work on Monday  

I have found in Greek Dictionary *κάθε - kathe**= **every*

So, could it be something like *deuterekathephobia*?


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## ireney

Hahaha!

OK although this verges to an "Other languages" question, it'd be kathedeuterephobia I guess (if that is they wanted to put "every" for emphasis) since we usually place the adverb before the noun in such cases (in both Greek and English at least).

I on the other hand suffer from a Kyriakephobia (Sunday) since I know that on Sunday I will start thinking about Monday.

Anyway, on topic, is this really  (the Fridaythirteenphobia) a "phobia"? I mean phobias are "irrational" fears based on a personal bad experience of some sort. They may be shared by many people  but are not really created by the same mechanism as a "phobia" created by extreme belief in a widely known (and believed in) superstition such as Friday the 13th (obviously that's just my personal opinion)


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## geve

I didn't know the word "paraskavedekatriaphobia", but I knew "triskaidekaphobie"! Ie. being scared of number thirteen (thirteen people at a dinner table for instance)

I have the impression that in France those who view Friday the 13th as good luck are slowly but surely winning over those who see it as bad luck. Friday the 13th has been instituted as a day for good luck by the national lottery.
All in all the real winners are probably people who don't care.


-- [edit] I've just seen that today's word of the day on the wiktionary's main page is triskaidekaphobia! And they define it as both "the fear, hate or dislike of the number 13", and "the fear of Friday the 13th". That's a couple less syllables to remember than "paraskavedekatriaphobia"


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## Seana

ireney said:


> Hahaha! it'd be kathedeuterephobia


 
Of course you are right, but being grammatically correct 'kathedeuterephobia' wouldn't sound so similar to other "dayphobias", it was obviously only a joke.  

Fortunately this unlucky day is end at last (time zone in Poland GMT+2)

So, good luck for all.


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## Victoria32

french4beth said:


> It must have been considered to be much more unlucky back in the 20th century since some buildings do not have a floor listed as number 13 (same source as above):


In the 1980s, a friend I know had an hotel, and a friend who worked there and I, found a dead body (a man who had over-dosed on something)...

Later, Peter renumbered the rooms, and I ended up staying in the dead man's room - (I have no visual memory and didn't realise it was _the same room... 
_That was superstition, I assume (renumbering the rooms.._.) 
_


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