Triskaidekaphobia

triskaidekaphobia (from the Greek τρεισκαιδέκα, treiskaideka 'thirteen', derived from τρεῖς, treîs 'three', καὶ, kai 'and', and δέκα, deka 'ten'; together with φοβία, phobia, from φόβος, phobos 'fear ', 'fear') is the irrational fear of the number 13. It is normally considered a superstition. The specific phobia of Friday the 13th is called parascevedecatriaphobia (Parasceve is the preparation for Easter), collaphobia, or friggatriscaidecaphobia (the word Friday, 'Friday' in English, comes from the name of the Viking goddess Frigg). The fear of Tuesday the 13th is called trezidavomartiophobia. 13

Origins

Last SupperLeonardo da Vinci.

Probably arose in the Middle Ages. Thirteen is the next prime number after eleven (symbolically eleven would be held in high esteem, given its practicality and mathematical qualities). It has been linked to the fact that there were 13 people at the Last Supper of Jesus of Nazareth and that the latter was executed shortly after. It has also been linked to the fact that a lunisolar calendar must surely have 13 months in some years, while the Gregorian solar calendar and the Muslim lunar calendar always have 12 months in a year. Also significant is the fact that chapter 13 of the Apocalypse of Saint John is dedicated to the Antichrist and the Beast.

Triskaidekaphobia may have affected the Vikings as well; Loki, in the Norse pantheon, is believed to be the 13.er god. This was later "Christianized" by saying that Satan was the 13.er angel.

Another relationship that it has with Friday the 13th is the capture and death of the Knights Templar, being burned at the stake on Friday, October 13, 1307. That day the power of the warrior monks ended, being able to attribute this to the bad luck. But it is also related to the curse of Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Templars, who, already at the stake, summoned King Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V before the tribunal of God —who had been the architects of that destruction of the Order of the Temple—the two of them dying before a year had elapsed, just as the Grand Master had predicted.

In general, 13 can be considered a "bad" number simply because it is one more than 12, which is a popularly used number in many cultures (because it is a highly composite number).

Examples

The ancient Egyptians considered the 13th phase of the life cycle to be death; that is, the life after death, which they thought was an ideal and better life.

The Death card in a tarot deck is number 13, although in this case it represents transformation, change.

Some buildings omit the 13th floor, jumping from the 12th to the 14th floor to avoid triskaidekaphobic distress, or using 12A and 12B instead. This also sometimes applies to house or room numbers (such as in hospitals).

The above is also valid for the rows of seats on airplanes. The planes of the Spanish airline Iberia, those of the Italian Alitalia, the United Arab Emirates, Emirates and the Panamanian Copa Airlines do not have this number in their numbering: the row that follows 12 is 14.

Some cities "skip" 13th avenue. This is not the case in Bogotá, Colombia, where there is a crossroads between Calle 13 and Carrera 13 in the heart of the city, and in Sacramento (California), which has an intersection where 13th Street and 13th Avenue intersect.

No person in Spain will have the National Identity Document with the number 13. The dictator Francisco Franco, precursor of this personal identification system, reserved the number 1 for himself, and the rest of the one-digit documents for his family. The royal family of Spain has two-digit numbers reserved; King Juan Carlos I has 10, Queen Sofía 11, and his eldest daughter Infanta Elena 12. His second daughter, Infanta Cristina, would have had 13, but due to this superstition, that DNI was left without an owner, and assigned the number 14.

Composer Arnold Schönberg suffered from triskaidekaphobia. Ironically, he was born and died on the 13th of the month, at the age of 76 (7 + 6 = 13).

In J. R. R. Tolkien's novel, The Hobbit, published in 1937, the main characters are thirteen dwarves, and in order not to have bad luck on their journey, they ask the wizard Gandalf to find a fourteenth member for his company.

The musical album Room for Squares, by the American composer and singer John Mayer, consists of 14 tracks, although the 13th track is 2 seconds silent (the minimum length according to the standards) and does not appear on album art.

The album Alivio de luto, by Joaquín Sabina, does not have this number either: after track number twelve comes the track «+uno».

In the album Destrangis, by Estopa, the last song, Ojitos rojos, instead of being numbered 13, is numbered as Bonus track.

All the records of the Uruguayan band No Te Va Gustar lack a track number 13, going directly from 12 to 14. On Spotify track 13 is 6 seconds of silence.

Mission Logo Apollo 13.

Apollo 13 was launched at 1:13 p.m. EST on April 11, 1970 from Complex 39 (three times thirteen) and suffered a mid-flight explosion, endangering the crew, and the mission had to be aborted.^{[citation needed]} Some refer to this lunar mission as the ultimate proof that the 13th brings bad luck, which is easily refuted by the fact that there was no deceased, when other US and Russian missions with worse results were not designated with that number.^{[citation needed]}

The German fighter aircraft developed after the He 112 was designated the He 100 to avoid the He 113 designation, which was considered unfortunate since Adolf Hitler was a triskaidekaphobic. In the United States, there has never been a fighter named F- 13, since many pilots are superstitious.

The Renault company has had, throughout its history, a series of numbered models. From the Renault 3 to the Renault 25, there are models with all numbers, except 13.

Ángel Nieto was motorcycling world champion 13 times, but he always referred to the fact that he was 12+1 times.

In most motorsports and motorcycling competitions, the number 13 is not assigned to any participant.

There are athletes who decide to defy the bad luck of the number 13 by using it. An example is Pastor Maldonado, the Formula 1 driver. When the FIA allowed any number between #2 and #99 to be chosen from the 2014 season, the Venezuelan driver chose #13 to put an end to bad luck. That was his last season in F1 for now. The cases of basketball players Wilt Chamberlain and Steve Nash are also famous. The latter considers the number 13 as lucky. He has always worn it except for the Los Angeles Lakers, where he wore number 10, since Chamberlain's jersey with number 13 was retired. In the German national soccer team, for decades, the team's star has worn the number 13. This trend was started by striker Gerd Müller in the 1970s. The number was recently worn by Michael Ballack and is currently worn by Thomas Müller.

In the 1982 World Cup, Chilean player Carlos Caszely wore the number 13 jersey in the match against Austria. In that match he lost a penalty, which marked his professional career. For the 2006 Soccer World Cup, in the Spanish team, the rookie Andrés Iniesta wore the number 13. The Spanish soccer players chose their numbers in order of seniority in the national team, and the newcomer Iniesta was given the number that no other player wanted.

The graphic design program CorelDRAW changed the numbering when it reached version thirteen, calling it CorelDRAW X3 (where X represents 10 in Roman numerals). Similarly, the Microsoft Office suite was upgraded from version 12 (Office 2007) to version 14 (Office 2010); as stated by Jensen Harris, Lead Program Manager for Microsoft's Office User Experience Team, 13 was omitted due to dislike for that number.

WinZip did not release a 13th version of its program, going directly from 12 to 14.

Currently, the Madrid Metro system has 12 lines, and the next to be put into service will be line 14, avoiding number 13. For its part, the Madrid Municipal Transport Company has never had a regular line with the number 13.

The Spanish 2012 edition of Big Brother, corresponding to number 13, was named "Big Brother 12+1" to avoid this number.

Another known case has been the curse of the number 13 as a taboo number by Formula 1 racing drivers, in which it was not used until 2014, when the teams avoided using said number, since in In the past, it was considered a bad omen for the pilot who carried said number, since there were several cases of deaths of pilots who wore the number #13, this curse or superstition ended when in the 2014 season, the FIA allowed free choice. to the pilots their number, which would be fixed from then on. Despite this, the number continues to be taboo in other motorsport disciplines, with the exception of NASCAR, which also uses said number to number a vehicle in the category.

Superstitions and similar phobias

Tetraphobia is the fear of the number 4. In China, Japan, and Korea, hotels and hospitals often do not have a fourth floor. The Japanese word shi (死) means 'death', and is pronounced the same as 4, so to remedy this, pronounce 4 as yon. In some hospitals, there is no room number 42 (shi-ni) as this number is a very bad omen, and its meaning may be the expression "prepare to die". Similarly, some maternity hospitals do not have room 43 (shi-san), as it is pronounced the same as "stillbirth."

In Italy, the unlucky number is 17. This is because 17, in Roman numerals, is written XVII. Rearranging its letters we can write VIXI, a Latin expression formerly used on the tombstones of the deceased that means 'I lived', that is, 'my life is past'.

On the other hand, Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia is the irrational fear of "666", a number also known in Christianity as "the number of the beast". This phobia originates in Revelation (verse 13:18), where it is indicated that this number is linked to Satan or the Antichrist.