It's Friday the 13th, and millions of people are on edge,
fearing a calamity with personal or global repercussions-a broken leg, a stock
market crash, or the trigger pulled for World War III.
Why all the
anxiety? In short, because the fear is ingrained in Western culture, "If nobody bothered to teach us about
these negative taboo superstitions like Friday the 13th, we might in fact all
be better off." People who harbor
a Friday the 13th superstition might have a fear of the number 13, and often pass on
their belief to their children, he noted. Popular culture's obsession with the
fear-think the Friday the 13th horror films and
even this story-helps keep it alive, added Stuart Vyse, the author of Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition. Although superstitions can be arbitrary-a fear of ladders
or black cats, for example-"once they are in the culture, we tend to honor
them "You feel like if you are
going to ignore it, you are tempting fate."
There are some that say the it has its roots in the Bible. There are several theories out their that give way to why the number 13 is such a problem for so many people. Then there's Friday. Not only was Christ crucified on
that day, but some biblical scholars believe Eve tempted Adam with the
forbidden fruit on a Friday. Perhaps most significant is a belief that Abel was
slain by his brother Cain on Friday the 13th. More interesting is why people associate any Friday the
13th with bad luck. The answer has to
do with what is called principles of "magical thinking" found in
cultures around the world. One of these
principles involves things or actions-if they "resemble other things in
any way of resemblance-shape or sound or odor or color-people tend to think
those things are related and in a causal way." In
this framework, there were 13 people present at the Last Supper, so anything
connected to the number 13 from then on is bad luck.
On Friday the
13th, some people are so crippled by fear that they lock themselves inside;
others will have no choice but to grit their teeth and nervously muster through
the day. Nevertheless, many people will
refuse to fly, buy a house, or act on a hot stock tip, inactions that noticeably
slow economic activity. "It's been
estimated that $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day in the United States because people will not fly or do business they normally would do," he
said.
I'll be at work making drinks all day today, so if you need a little courage to get through the day stop on by and enjoy a fun cocktail to take the stress of the day away. ;o) 
