What are your takes on superstition? I would consider myself not superstition but walking to work today I purposefully walked under a ladder!! As if doing it on purpose is any less superstitious...?

"And if the number thirteen is such a bad luck number..."

In Italy the number 13 is considered lucky!! Unless there are 13 people round a dinner table then that, clearly, would be bad luck!

Shoes on the bed?
Open umbrella in a house? Worse if its black!
Black cats? In all directions!
Sleeping with your feet facing the door?
Friday the 13th?

Whadyaallthink?

I don't believe in them, but they humor me, nonetheless.

Creepy...I was just gonna post this thread..

There are numerous hotels that nót have a thirteenth floor. It's 11, 12, 14, 15...Stupid.

ChocolateInvasion said:

Row 13 on a plane too!

REDFEATHERS said:

That's not superstition that’s synchronicity RED. Now that is a different matter

They don't seem to have left it off of calendars.

I've got two black cats and I'm Italian, so the number 13 doesn't affect me (the number 17 is considered unlucky for Italians and my mother always told me that 13 was a lucky number for us.)

But, here's some interesting info about triscadecaphobia:

http://www.lucky13apparel...gma_13.htm

A Journey Into The Number 13

Thirteen is the number of the witches coven. 12 witches and a Horned God, who was later perverted by the Church into the image of the devil – whose symbol was the pentacle overlapped by a triangle, giving a total of thirteen sides.
On Miles Davis’s 13th birthday, his parents gave him a trumpet
Thirteen is the death card in the Tarot deck.
The Friday the 13th club used to meet religiously in obscure places each and every Friday the 13th. The club was to self destruct in accordance with the wishes of it founder on last Friday the 13th in October of 2000. The club was founded in 1936.
Many hotels and apartment buildings do not have a 13th Floor.
People don’t like to travel on any given Friday the 13th, and tickets are always easy to get.
The 13 weather related disasters covered by insurance companies.
Hurricane
Tornado
Flood/Flash Flood
Lightning
Blizzard
Avalanche
Ice Storm
Dust Storm
Hail Storm
Forest Fire
Tsunami (Tidal Wave)
Drought
Heat Wave/Cold Wave
13 Bloody Sunday – On January 30, 1972 (Bloody Sunday), 13 unarmed civilians were shot and killed in Belfast when British troops clashed with Roman Catholic demonstrators, causing retaliatory actions by guerrillas in Northern Ireland and demonstrations south of the border.
According to the American Mathematical Monthly, the 13th is more likely to fall on a Friday than on any other day.
In ancient times, Friday the 13th was a sacred and festive day celebrated by women before it was invalidated and condemned by the ancient patriarchy. Thirteen was the number of lunar revolutions in a year, thus a feminine number. And Friday, derived its name from Freyja, the Norse goddess of love and fertility, the Nordic Venus. Thus Friday the 13th was devoted to that goddess.
Napoleon, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt all would not dine with 13 at the table.
The most frequent explanation of the superstitions that sitting thirteen at a dinner table may prove unlucky or fatal is that it summons up the ominous memory of the story of Jesus and his twelve apostles at the Last Supper: "Jesus answered them, Have I not chosen you twelve apostles, and one of your is a devil? He spoke of Judas Iscariot…. For he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve" (John 6:70-71)
O.J. Simpson and the number 13 – O.J. Simpson and Nicole Simpson were officially divorced on July 13, 1993. Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman each had 13 letters in their names. Their dead bodies were discovered in Brentwood on June 13, 1995.
The British Medical Journal released a study evaluating the number of hospitalizations on Friday the 13th. It found that falls, animal bites, poisonings, and car accidents were more numerous on that date. And the journal found it impossible to say whether the day itself was unlucky or that the psychological weight attached tot hat date made people more susceptible to those accidents. Negative prophecies, after all, are always goads for dire consequences.
Many believe that 12 is the perfect number. It is often symbolizes totality, perfection, a completion: the twelve signs of the zodiac, the twelve gods of Olympus, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve Imams, the twelve Gates of Heaven, the twelve months of the year, the twelve hours of the day, the twelve-tone musical scale, the twelve subatomic building blocks – quarks and leptons – now believed to constitute all the material world. Into these systems, the number 13 brings a kind of instability, an element of intrusiveness, confusion, un-canniness and disorder.
In the Mo system of Tibetan divination, the number 13 is said to belong to Penden Lhomo, the Tibetan form of the Buddhist goddess Sri Devil, the fierce protectress of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan state. In this system of divination, three dice are thrown, which can result in numbers from 3 to 18. The number 12 is the unluckiest, the number 13 is the most favorable.
There are said to be 13 stages to Buddha hood consisting of ten bodhisattva stages and three additional pre-Buddhist stages.
"M" is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet and it also stands for marijuana.
The 13 House – In 1884, Sarah Winchester, the Winchester Rifle heiress, began constructing of her lifelong obsession, the 160-room Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California. Mrs. Winchester, who had lived in New Haven, Connecticut, was deeply upset by the death of her husband and daughter (he from pulmonary tuberculosis, she from marasmus one month after birth), and she consulted a medium. Supposedly the medium explained that the spirits of all those who had been killed by the rifles her manufactured had sought their revenge by taking the lives of her loved ones. Furthermore, these spirits had placed a curse on her and would haunt her forever. But the medium also stated that she could escape the curse by moving west, buying a house, and continually building on it as the spirits directed. In this way, she could escape them and perhaps find the key to eternal life.
One of the most extraordinary features of the house is the role that the number 13 plays in it. A partial list of the 13’s in the house include:

13 cement blocks in the Carriage Entrance Hall.
13 Blue and amber stones in the spider web window.
13 bathrooms.
13 panels in the wall by the 13th bathroom
13 windows in the 13th bathroom.
13 steps to the 13th bathroom
13 windows and doors in the old sewing room.
13 hooks in the Séance Room.
13 Ever-Flow drain holes in the Italian Sink.
13 rails by the spy hole in the South Conservatory.
13 steps on the 1st flight to the fourth floor.
13 ceiling panels in the Entrance Hallway.
13 sub-panels in the ballroom ceiling panels.
13 glass cupolas in the greenhouse.
13 holes in the drain-hole cover.
13 gas jets on the Ballroom Chandelier
13 stones in the Oriental Bedroom windows.
13 squares on each side of the Otis Electric Elevator.
On April 13, 1984, the Winchester Mystery House officially celebrated on hundreds years of Mystery, with the help of the Mountain Charlie Chapter No. 1850 of E Campus Vitus, by unveiling a special 100th Anniversary Plaque commemorating Sarah Winchester and the Winchester Mystery House for "100 years of Mystery". At 1300 hours (1:00 P.M.), the bell in Mrs.. Winchester’s bell tower was rung 13 times; and at the conclusion of the celebration, 1,300 balloons were released into the air. There are 13 parts to Sarah Winchester’s will; her signature appears in it 13 times.

TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA
Between June 1962 and January 1964, Albert H. DeSalvo, known as the Boston Strangler, killed 13 women in Boston, Massachusetts. Tried and convicted in 1967, he was murdered in his jail cell.
On the evening of Friday the 13th in January 1995, the iconoclastic artist Ray Johnson jumped from a highway bridge over Sag Harbor Cove in Long Island, New York, and was last seen by two teenage boys backstroking in the freezing waters. Several hours before his death, Johnson checked into a nearby motel and specifically asked for room #247, whose digits add up to 13, as do the digits of the time he was spotted in the water by the two boys, 7:15 p.m., and as do the digits in his age, 67. (The day before his death, Ray Johnson had phoned a friend and told him, "I have a new project, the biggest I’ve ever undertaken, the most important in my life".)
On September 13, 1993, Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin shook hands on the White House lawn in Washington D.C., after signing a declaration of agreement on interim Palestinian self-rule.
Agamemnon was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, on the 13th of Gamelion (January)
Odysseus, the 13th of his group of companions, is the only one to have escaped the devouring appetite of the Cyclops Polyphemus.
The Amazon Queen Minythyla tried to mate with Alexander the Great during a period of 13 days.
Oenomaus, the father of Hippodamia, killed 13 of her suitors before Pelops won her.
Phillip II of Macedonia was assassinated shortly after he allowed a statue of himself to be erected along with those of the 12 gods of Olympus, making 13 statues in all.
Thirteen is to be considered the age of puberty, and the first transition into "teen-hood".
That 13 brings ill-luck is mere tradition,
Yea, even more, it’s foolish superstition-
For 13, lucky number runs,
Through all our Country’s ripening suns-
‘Tis for Our Land and omen good-
For Peace-Liberty-Brotherhood!

--From Lucky13, a mini-epic written by Maurice Walter in 1919
The 13 American colonies banded together to revolt against England and formed the United States Of America. The Declaration of Independence was signed by 13 representatives, and a flag with the 13 stars was made on January13, 1794. France announced support for the 13 colonies on June 13, 1778.
In The Great Seal of the United States, which can be found on the back of the dollar bill, the number 13 is used 13 times. The Bald Eagle was selected as a symbol for victory for two reasons: first, he is not afraid of a storm; he is strong and he is smart enough to soar above it. Secondly, he wears no material crown. We had just broken from the King of England. Also, notice the shield is unsupported. This country can now stand on its own. At the top of that shield you have a white bar signifying congress, a unifying factor. We were coming together as one nation. In the Eagle's beak you will read, "E PLURIBUS UNUM," meaning "one nation
from many people." Above the Eagle you have thirteen stars representing the thirteen original colonies, and any clouds of misunderstanding rolling away (13 clouds around the stars). Again, we were coming together as one. Notice what the Eagle holds in his talons. He holds an olive branch and arrows. This country wants peace, but we will never be afraid to fight to preserve peace. The Eagle always wants to face the olive branch, but in time of war, his gaze turns toward the arrows. They say that the number 13 is an unlucky number. This is almost a worldwide belief. You will usually never see a room numbered 13, or any hotels or motels with a 13th floor. But, think about this:13 original colonies, 13 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 13 stripes on our flag, 13 steps on the Pyramid, 13 letters in the Latin word "Annuit Coeptus" above, 13 letters in "E Pluribus Unum", 13 stars above the Eagle, 13 clouds around the stars, 13 plumes of feathers on each span of the Eagle's wing, 13 bars on that shield, 13 leaves on the olive branch, 13 olives on the branch, and if you look closely, 13 arrows. And the number of letters (13 x 3) in the title: "The Coat of Arms of the United States of America".
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which declares, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist within the United States." Mississippi was the last of the nine Civil War holdout-states to approve the amendment.
The ill-fated Apollo 13 mission was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 hours Central Time from Pad 39 (13 x 3), and had to be aborted on April 13 after the explosion of an oxygen tank serving the command ship. Three of the sleeping periods scheduled for the astronauts were supposed to start at 13 minutes past the hour, as was the possible splashdown times. The film Apollo 13 grossed $26 million (13 x 2) in its first weekend showings in the United States.
When Princess Margaret was born in Scotland’s Glamis Castle on August 21, 1930, palace officials delayed the registration of her birth for three days until another baby was born, so that the princess’s registration number wouldn’t be 13.
When Queen Elizabeth II paid a visit to West Germany in 1965, the number of the platform at they Duisburg railway station, from which she was about to depart, was changed from 13 to 12A.
When Spanish princess Elena de Bourbon celebrated her marriage on March 18, 1995, to the banker Jaime de Marichalar y Saenz de Tejada, he participated in an old Castilian custom by ritually pouring 13 gold coins into the hands of his bride as a sign that their goods would be held in common. (bienes con juntos)
The French monarch Louis XIII, who declared the number 13 to be his favorite number, married Anna of Austria when she was 13 years old.
The Sun and the Moon are in almost a perfect 13 to 1 ratio. The Sun moves approximately one degree a day, while the moon moves thirteen degrees a day. All of this has made 13 a moon number (13 moons in a lunar year), and 12 a sun number (12 months to a calendar year)
The number 13 bus in London remained unharmed throughout World War II

I've always thought superstitions were fascinating!

Thirteen used to be -- and still is -- considered lucky in many traditions. Many Wiccan covens consider 13 members to be the ideal number for power-raising; there are 13 incarnations of Buddha in some Indian Buddhist branches, 13 months in the ancient Hebrew lunar calander; etc. Bad luck didn’t become associated with the number until it was circulated that Judas was the 13th member present at the Last Supper. Also, Christ was supposedly put to death on the 13th, and “Death” is the 13th card in a tarot deck.

Some of my other favorites:
* Hold your breath when walking past a cemetery, lest you restore life back into a corpse.
* Never let a female be the first to enter a house in a new year. (My mother observes this… which drives my ex-wife nuts!)
* Holding you fingers in a “V” pointed toward the ground will hold Satan at bay.
* To eat an apple without first breathing on it and polishing it is to challenge the devil.
* “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in morning, sailors take warning.”
* “Never trust a man -- not even your brother -- whose hair is one color and beard another.”
* A person with a unibrow or whose index finger isn’t shorter than their middle finger is a vampire or werewolf.
* The seventh son of a seventh son will be a vampire or werewolf.
* Always place a coin under the tongue of the dead, so they can pay the ferryman on their boat ride to Hades.

Great post, applekisses!

like it to have been born on the 13.Friday in the ...hour...

I usually won't walk under a ladder if I pass one.

Soapstone said:

I'm curious as to why 13 people around a dinner table is clearly unlucky?? Is it the whole "Jesus" thing with the last meal??

Lammastide said:

Thanks, babe!

Lammastide said:[quote]I've always thought superstitions were fascinating!


Some of my other favorites:
* Hold your breath when walking past a cemetery, lest you restore life back into a corpse.

I always wondered about this one!

applekisses said:[quote]

Lammastide said:

I love that one! When people are in my car and we are driving past a graveyard I always do the "hilarious" gag of stopping right outside and faking a broken down car! It's great fun watching them squirm and watching their delicate little faces turn purple as they hold their breath!!