“The most widespread numerical superstition today is that 13 is extremely unlucky. This belief is often attributed to the fact that 13 were present at the Last Supper, but in fact it is far older than this event and existed in pagan times. the ancient Romans disliked 13 as much as we do and regarded it as a symbol of death, destruction, and misfortune. Another explanation sometimes given is that witch-covens always consisted of 13 persons. The records of the trials do not always bear this out but it was generally believed, it might well help to strengthen the aversion in which this number was, and is held, especially as the presiding number was supposed to represent the Devil, or even to be him in person.
It is very ill-omened for 13 people to sit together at table. The person who rises first will die or meet with serious misfortune within a year. In some districts, it is the last to rise upon whom the penalty falls, in others it may be any one of the company. In Oxfordshire, it is unlucky to be thirteen in a room, especially for the person nearest the door.
Hotel-keepers rarely have a room in their house which is numbered 13. They know they will have difficulty in letting it and the 13th room is usually labeled 12a or 14. Houses numbered 13 are often hard to let or sell, and some town councils have been forced to take notice of this tradition and omit 13s from their three-numerals. A famous English barrister is said to have refused all briefs marked 13 guineas.
The 13th of the month is an inauspicious day on which to embark upon any new enterprise, including marriage, or to set out on a journey. It is doubly so if it happens to fall on a Friday. Probably the unluckiest of all dates for a wedding is Friday, 13 May, and few brides would choose it without some very strong reason. On the other hand, to be born on the 13th of the month does not seem particularly ill-omened anywhere and in some districts it is thought to be lucky. Where that is the case, a child born then is expected to prosper in anything he begins on that date in later life.”
- The Encyclopedia of Superstitions edited and revised by Christina Hole. Helicon/Barnes and Noble, 1996. Original copyright, 1961.
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