13

The number four is considered unlucky due to it associated with death while the number 666 is said to be unlucky due to being said the number of Satan. But it is unlucky number thirteen that interests me the most.

The number thirteen has much surrounding such as the number of cards in a suit. There were thirteen colonies that formed the United States with on the Great Seal of the United States that has thirteen olive leaves with thirteen olives, thirteen arrows and thirteen stars. There is thirteen loaves in a baker’s dozen, the fear of the number thirteen is called triskaidekaphobia, and there were thirteen plotters in the Gunpowder Plot. There is much more to this which I could go on and on about.

Thirteen at a table is said to be bad luck and one is to die within the year, this is the reason why The Thirteen Club was started and members of the club wanted to disprove this. The 13^th of each month was when they met for dinner where they dined with thirteen on each table. Thirteen at a table being bad luck is said to have started for one or another reason, one reason is from a well known scene of Jesus and his disciples called The Last Supper to which Jesus dies soon after it. The other reason that is said to be there was a banquet where twelve gods were invited. The trickster Loki came along uninvited making him the thirteenth guest and the beloved Balder ends up dead.

There is also a myth that on a Friday the 13^th that King Philip IV of France is tied to the mass arrest of the Knights Templar as it is said King Philip is the one himself who ordered the arrests. I have heard from others that this is also where the Friday the 13^th superstition came from. Then again, Friday has been considered an unlucky day and 13, from what I have heard, is the unluckiest number. Thomas Lawson’s novel Friday the 13^th is thought to be the reason why so many find that particular date unlucky. Some however consider the day lucky, there have been people born on such a day and this is a reason why it is considered lucky. Some consider the number 13 lucky. It really just depends on who you are talking to, and I am one that doesn’t consider thirteen unlucky.