Many people fear the number 13, so prevalent in western culture that it even has a name: triskaidekaphobia. A fear that has led to the floor 13 being skipped in the numbering of many high rise buildings, going straight from 12 to 14, even though there is obviously a 13th floor.
So why is the number 13 considered to be so unlucky?
The short answer: cultural. In China and Japan 13 is considered a lucky number. Those cultures consider the number 4 unlucky, because of the similarity of the sound of 4 in those languages to the sound of the word for death. The origin of our dislike of the number 13 is less clear.
Two possibilities of the 13’s historical unluckiness are the belief that Judas Iscariot was the 13th guest at the Last Supper, and the Norse believed that evil was introduced into the world when the trickster god Loki was the uninvited 13th guest to a dinner party in Valhalla. These two beliefs have led to the superstition that it is unlucky to have 13 dinner guests.
Another possible explanation is more mathematical in origin. Twelve is a very useful and convenient number for math because it is evenly divisible by so many numbers. The Babylonians created a number system that was based on 60, or 5 sets of 12, rather than based on 10 like our current number system. We see vestiges of this today; a dozen eggs, 12 hours on the clock, 60 minutes in an hour. Dislike of 13 may stem from its being very inconveniently just one more than 12.
Other unlucky associations for 13 include; 13 steps to the gallows, 13 witches in a coven, and the arrest of the Knights Templar started on a Friday 13th. A quick internet search will pull up whole lists of bad things that have happened on the 13th, seemingly to confirm its unluckiness.
So, did 13 become unlucky in our culture because of its association with negative historical events and cultural usage? Or is 13 considered unlucky for other reasons, and we take special note of historical events associated with that number and purposefully associate negative things with it culturally?
As a fan of easy math, I am inclined to believe that the real origin of 13’s unluckiness lies in what an annoying number it is to work with. Although, as a big fan of baked goods I will never turn down a baker’s dozen of donuts.
Crystal Kelly is a feature writer for Bizarre Bytes with those unusual facts that you only need to know for Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy or to stump your in-laws.
