The stall numbers at the Santa Anita Park. Note that the numbers progress from 12 to 12A to 14.

Triskaidekaphobia (from Greek tris=three, kai=and, deka=ten) is a fear of the number 13. It is a superstition. A specific fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2005x1371, 265 KB) Summary No number 13 wp:Santa Anita Park receiving barn showing superstition. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2005x1371, 265 KB) Summary No number 13 wp:Santa Anita Park receiving barn showing superstition. ... The Santa Anita track is set against the dramatic backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains. ... For other uses, see Phobia (disambiguation). ... 13 (thirteen) is the natural number following 12 and preceding 14. ... For other uses, see Superstition (disambiguation). ... Friday the 13th is considered a day of bad luck in English-, French- and Portuguese-speaking countries around the world, as well as in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. ...

Origins

Some have proposed that the fear of the number 13 arises from the counting method of ancient mesomorphs. This argument states that people counted on ten toes and two feet. Anything beyond that countable dozen was unknown and thus evil. For example, most Asian languages have distinct names for the numbers one to thirteen, whereas in English, really only the numbers up to twelve have distinct names.

Some Christian traditions have it that at the Last Supper, Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th to sit at the table, and that for this reason 13 is considered to carry a curse of sorts. However, the number 13 is not uniformly bad in the Judeo-Christian tradition. For example, the 13 attributes of God (also called the thirteen attributes of mercy) are enumerated in the Torah (Exodus 34: 6-7).^[1] Some modern Christian churches also use 13 attributes of God in sermons.^[2] For the painting by Leonardo da Vinci, see The Last Supper (Leonardo). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      For other... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ...

Fear of 13 has also been linked to that fact that a lunisolar calendar must have 13 months in some years, while the solar Gregorian calendar and lunar Islamic calendar always have 12 months in a year. This fear of the 13 month year has also been associated with fear of the female due to the fact that 13 menstrual cycles comprise one year (13x28=364).^{[citation needed]} A lunisolar calendar is a calendar whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. ... For the calendar of religious holidays and periods, see liturgical year. ... The Islamic calendar or Muslim calendar (Arabic: التقويم الهجري; at-taqwīm al-hijrī; Persian: تقویم هجري قمری ‎ taqwīm-e hejri-ye qamari; also called the Hijri calendar) is the calendar used to date events in many predominantly Muslim countries, and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate...

Triskaidekaphobia may have also affected the Vikings — it is believed that Loki in the Norse pantheon was the 13th god. More specifically, Loki was believed to have engineered the murder of Baldr, and was the 13th guest to arrive at the funeral. This is perhaps related to the superstition that if thirteen people gather, one of them will die in the following year. This was later Christianized in some traditions into saying that Satan was the 13th angel. The name Viking is a loan from the native Scandinavian term for the Norse seafaring warriors who raided the coasts of Scandinavia, Europe and the British Isles from the late 8th century to the 11th century, the period of European history referred to as the Viking Age. ... For other uses, see Loki (disambiguation). ... Baldr. ... This article is about the concept of Satan. ...

The Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1760 BC) omits 13 in its numbered list.^[3] This seems to indicate a superstition existed long before the Christian era. Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq. ... An inscription of the Code of Hammurabi. ...

See also Friday the 13th for information concerning the traditions and superstitions surrounding this supposedly unlucky day. Friday the 13th is considered a day of bad luck in English-, French- and Portuguese-speaking countries around the world, as well as in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. ...

Examples

An elevator without a 13th-floor button.

Rows 12 and 14, with row 13 missing on a Ryanair flight.

• The arrest and murder of the Knights Templar occurred on Friday October 13, 1307. This event is incorrectly said to be the origin of the supposed unluckiness of Friday the 13th.

• In the US and Canada, many tall buildings do not have a floor numbered "13" (see picture at left for an example).

• Apollo 13 was launched at 1:13 p.m. (13:13). The spacecraft was crippled by an explosion two days into its flight, on April 13, 1970.

• On some passenger aircraft such as Continental Airlines, there is no seating row numbered "13" (see picture at right for an example).

• Some airport terminals do not have gates numbered 13.

• In Formula One and many other racing categories, no vehicle carries the number 13.^[4]

• Microsoft will not be naming its next Office release as Office 13 (Microsoft shipped Office 12 (a.k.a Microsoft Office 2007) in November 2006) - the working title for the next release of Office (which includes Microsoft Exchange Server) is called Microsoft Office 14.

ImageMetadata File history File links No_13th_floor. ... ImageMetadata File history File links No_13th_floor. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... For other uses, see Knights Templar (disambiguation). ... is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... January 18 - German king Albrecht I makes his son Rudolf king of Bohemia. ... Friday the 13th is considered a day of bad luck in English-, French- and Portuguese-speaking countries around the world, as well as in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. ... Motto: (traditional) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at the federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic  - President George W. Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized... In many buildings in the U.S. and Canada, there is no thirteenth floor. ... Original crew photo. ... is the 103rd day of the year (104th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... F1 redirects here. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Microsoft Office 2007 (officially called 2007 Microsoft Office system) is the most recent version of Microsofts productivity suite. ... A working title is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development. ... Microsoft Exchange Server is a messaging and collaborative software product developed by Microsoft. ... Microsoft Office 14 (Office 14 for short) is the working title for the next version of the Microsoft Office System productivity suite for Microsoft Windows. ...

Similar phobias

An elevator in a residential apartment building in Shanghai - floor numbers 4, 13 and 14 are missing.

Tetraphobia, fear of the number 4 — in Korea, China, and Japan as well as in many East-Asian and some Southeast-Asian countries, it is not uncommon for buildings (including offices, apartments, hotels) to not have floors with the number 4. In Italy the number 17 is considered the unlucky number. Paraskavedekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th, which is considered to be a day of bad luck in English, German, Polish, Dutch and Portuguese-speaking cultures. In Spanish-speaking cultures, it is Tuesday the 13th that is considered unlucky. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (816x1224, 112 KB) A picture taken in an elevator in a residential apartment block in Shanghai. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (816x1224, 112 KB) A picture taken in an elevator in a residential apartment block in Shanghai. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the Korean civilization. ... This article is about traditional meanings of the word office. ... An apartment (or flat) is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. ... A hotel is an establishment that provides lodging, usually on a short-term basis. ... Friday the 13th is considered a day of bad luck in English-, French- and Portuguese-speaking countries around the world, as well as in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. ...

References

• Lachenmeyer, Nathaniel (2004). 13: The Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows. ISBN 1-56858-306-0.
• Havil, Julian (2007). Nonplussed: Mathematical Proof of Implausible Ideas (Hardcover). Princeton University Press, p.152. ISBN 0691120560. 
• Thea, Christopher: What A Dollar Has To Tell You -13 Gentle Reminders- / Lo Que Un Dólar Tiene Para Decirte -13 Sutiles Sugerencias-Outskirts Press (2004) ISBN 9781932672497

External links

This article has been illustrated as part of WikiProject WikiWorld. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 500 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 720 pixel, file size: 455 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 500 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 720 pixel, file size: 455 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

• 'Unlucky' airline logo grounded BBC, 21 February 2007
• Triskaidekaphobia on MathWorld