why is the number 13 considered unlucky?

Answer 1

As you know a year is a full rotation of earth around the sun and initially month was the full rotation of moon around earth. Sumerians created their first calendar using this information. The problem with this is that a full rotation of moon is 29.5 days then 12 months make just 354 days. This is shorter than a year. Therefore, a synchronization was needed. In order to be able to synchronize their calendar people added another 13th month in every three years. However a standardization could not be achieved, different people added the 13th month at different times. This created a lot of problems especially for trade and contracts. As a result of this experience people thought that something is bad about 13 and they changed their calendar in such a way that months are no longer equal to the full rotation of moon around earth. There are still some calendars with a month equal to the full rotation of moon. For example, "honey moon" is a saying from those old days, because it was the tradition that father of the bride provided a fermented honey drink to the groom for a full month after the marriage.

Answer 2

In Italy, 13 is unlucky only when sitting at the table, because during the Last Supper they were 13. So no Italian would ever sit and eat at a table where the number of people is 13. He/she'd rather have the table spilt into two smaller ones or add another chair, plate, glass, fork and knife, to the original table as if the fourteenth person was there too;) Superstition is a funny thing;)

Answer 3

So how did Friday the 13th become such an unlucky day?

Fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities ultimately combined to make one super unlucky day.

Historians trace the fear of 13 to a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow.

Balder died and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day. From that moment on, the number 13 has been considered ominous and foreboding.

You can look at the rest of it on the website.

Answer 4

I always heard it was because 13 people were at the Last Supper. Friday the 13th because it was on a Friday. I think it might have also been part of the witch hunt idealism--the pagan lunar calendar has thirteen months. 13 was a very important and good number in Mayan culture--13 moons, 13 astrological signs, 13 months. Perhaps the Christians demonized the number to discourage paganism.
In my family, Friday the 13th is a lucky day because my parents met on a Friday the 13th.

Answer 5

Because people long believed in the tradition that both Friday and 13 are all considered unlucky.

Answer 6

Various reasons, and also only to certain cultures. For Christians, it's associated with the crucifiction (mistakenly... since the Last Supper, AKA the Seder took place on the night of the 15th.) Also, the tenth plague in Egypt, which took place on the 14th of the Jewish calender (which started at nightfall) was on the 13th of the Egyptian calendar (which lasted until dawn). For Buddhists, Hindus & Jews, there is no negative association with 13.

Answer 7

Same thing as the number 666, the black cat under the ladder, saying 'bloody mary' in the mirror 10 times, seven years bad luck because of broken vanity mirrors & so forth.

Ancient mythologies & superstitions maintained by tradition to the later generations.

It's all bunk.
13 is just a number like every other one as is 666 ('six hundred and sixty-six' not 'six six six').
A black cat is just another color for a cat & ANYTHING moving around a ladder while you're on it is bad luck.
Bloody Mary is just an alcoholic beverage.
Broken vanity mirrors are merely a pain to clean up because of all the shattered glass and if it takes you seven years to clean it up, you may need to learn skills on how to better make use of your time.

People like to make symbolisms out of mundane common things looking for meaning in life. That's all this is.

John Lucas

Answer 8

Many feel is goes back to the time when the Knight Templar were all arrested in a massive round-up across Europe, which happened on October 13, 1307

Answer 9

I dont know why but I like the number 13.

Answer 10

Because that is when the Templar's we burned at the stakes and killed for heresy and devil worship. Friday the 13th,1307