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October 13, 2006

It's Friday the 13th; Are you scared or overly enthused?

If you’ve got triskaidekaphobia or triskaidekamania, today’s your day.

Fear it or love it, it’s Friday the 13th, the second such day in 2006. [The last one this year was in January.]

Your turn: Do you fear Friday the 13th?

Some people may be avoiding signing contracts today, eating dinner with 13 folks around a table or otherwise doing something they believe could bring them bad luck. What about you? Test your phobia knowledge in this online quiz.

Steeped in history and mythology, Friday the 13th has long been considered an unlucky day – by many Christians because Friday was the day Jesus was crucified and 13 was the number of people at The Last Supper. In Norse Mythology, the evil god Loki caused the death of Balder – the god of light, joy and reconciliation – after Loki was not invited to a party for 12 at Valhalla, the banquet hall of the gods.

While there’s plenty of fear and superstition associated with the day and the number 13 in general – which is known as triskaidekaphobia, others are popularizing the term triskaidekamania, or the excessive enthusiasm for the number 13.

At Brown University in Providence, a longstanding tradition continues. Today is “Carberry Day,” named for Josiah S. Carberry, the fictional professor of psychoceramics (the equally fictional study of cracked pots).

Ever since the university received an anonymous gift of $101.01 on Friday, May 13, 1955, for the professor’s “future late wife,” Brown folks have donated loose change in various brown jugs around campus to buy books that Carberry “might or might not approve of.”

Posted by Kate Bramson  at 8:11 AM | Permalink

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