Why is number 13 is considered widely as Unlucky number and 7 as Lucky number?

Answer 1

Thirteen is regarded as an unlucky number in many cultures. Thirteen may be considered a "bad" number simply because it is one more than 12, which is a popularly used number in many cultures (possibly due to it being a highly composite number). When a group of 13 objects or persons is divided into two, three, four or six equal groups, there is always one leftover, "unlucky" object or person.

Unreasoned fear of the number 13 is termed triskaidekaphobia. Due to this fear, some tall buildings have resorted to skipping the "thirteenth floor", either by numbering it "14" (though it's really still the thirteenth floor) or by designating the floor as "12a" or something similar. Similarly, some streets do not contain a house number 13. Few Asian countries are however known to openly consider the 13th floor as the way it is without disguising it. [citation needed]

Some Christian traditions have it that at the Last Supper, Judas Iscariot, 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, there is evidence that 13 may have been considered unlucky in the pre-Christian era: the Code of Hammurabi, a collection of laws created ca. 1760 BCE, does not contain a thirteenth law.

According to another interpretation, the number 13 is unlucky because it is the number of full moons in a year. Actually two full moons in a single calendar month (referred to as a "Blue Moon") only happens about every 2.5 years, so to say there are 13 full moons in a year is false. (http://www.obliquity.com/astro/bluemoon.html) Says: “On average, there will be 41 months that have two Full Moons in every century, so you could say that once in a Blue Moon actually means once every two-and-a-half years.”

Early nursery rhymes stated there were thirteen months in a year because of the the natural moon cycle that was used to count the lunar year. In England, a calendar of thirteen months of 28 days each, plus one extra day, known as "a year and a day" was still in use up to Tudor times. The lunar year was the easiest to count for cultures before scientific methods existed to observe the movement of the earth around the sun, so it was associated with worship of the pagan Great Goddess for thousands of years, which may be another reason for 13 becoming a taboo number. Taboo often is misunderstood when only half of the totem and taboo relationship is recognized. Among religions having totem and taboo characteristics, that which is taboo on a regular basis, may become quite sacred on special occasions.

The thirteenth of a month is likewise ominous, particularly when it falls on a Friday (see Friday the 13th), a Tuesday in the Greek and Spanish-speaking world, or a Monday in Russia. Months with a Friday the 13th must always begin on a Sunday. Friday is the day named after the Great Goddess or one of her manifestations. In English it comes from the Old English frigedæg, meaning the day of Frige the Anglo-Saxon form of Frigga, the Germanic goddess of beauty. In most Germanic languages it is named after Freyja—such as Freitag in Modern German, vrijdag in Dutch, fredag in Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish—but Freyja and Frigga are frequently identified with each other. The word for Friday in most Romance languages is derived from the name of Venus, another manifestation of the goddess in triad, such as vendredi in French, venerdi in Italian, viernes in Spanish, and vineri in Romanian. A Friday that falls on the thirteenth would be especially taboo and likely to be the focus of special ceremonies among such cultures.

Women living in a natural environment tend to have their menses during a full moon.[citation needed] A twenty-eight day menstruation cycle is most typical, so a woman usually has 13 menses in a year. Supposedly, in the past, a woman who "bled" during a full moon might be thought a witch. The fear of women's connection to the moon, through worship of the Great Goddess, as well as the unscientific association of the full moon with mental disorders has, according to this theory, caused the number 13 to be seen as bad luck, and connected to the powerful supernatural forces of women.

In the Persian culture, 13 is also considered an unlucky number. On the 13th day of the Persian new year (Norouz), people consider staying at home unlucky, and go outside for a picnic in order to ward off the bad luck.

In Sikhism, the number 13 is considered a special number since 13 is tera in Punjabi, which also means "yours" (as in, "I am yours, O Lord"). The legend goes that when Guru Nanak Dev was taking stock of items as part of his employment with a village merchant, he counted from 1 to 13 (in Punjabi) as one does normally; and thereafter he would just repeat "tera", since all items were God's creation. The merchant confronted Guru Nanak about this, but found everything to be in order after the inventory was checked.

A legendary athlete who wore the number 13 was Dan Marino, who passed for more yards than any other quarterback in NFL history, but has never won a Super Bowl. Another legendary athlete Wilt Chamberlain wore the number 13 on his jersey throughout his NBA career. It signified that the number 13 was not unlucky for him, but unlucky for his opponents.

Most race car drivers consider 13 a very unlucky number, as a car carrying that number has never won the Indianapolis 500 or a NASCAR Nextel Cup race, and most all Formula 1 teams opt out of carrying the number 13 when car numbers are given out to teams on basis of points.

Answer 2

Part of the whole 13 thing comes from Halloween, October 31. the 31 is reversed and this is mainly an American superstition because we, for some reason, feel that Halloween is an evil holiday. It isn't. It's a tradition started to scare off evil for All Saint's Day, November 1.

As for 7, I believe that it's from gambling, such as craps and slot machines, but I'm not really sure.

Most of the world considers 666 as unlucky and 3 as lucky, which is a lot different than in N America.

Answer 3

Unlucky 13

Alexander wanted to be a God and accordingly made a 13th statue on the place of his capital. He died and people considered that his will to be a 13th God (12 gods, one for each month were known) was the reason of his death. After that this number was considered as unlucky.
According to historians, there were 13 people at Christ's Last Supper and Christ was crucified on Friday 13th. So, Friday 13th is considered as Unlucky.

Lucky 7

The reason for 7 being a lucky number symbolically (such as in the Bible) is because it represents the union of man and woman, since the number for women is 4 and the number for men is 3.
Seven candles are lit in the kinara during the African-American celebration of Kwanzaa, which is a seven-day holiday.
It is traditionally thought that there are seven continents on Earth.
Seven is the smallest positive integer requiring more than one syllable in English.

Answer 4

One it is bad luck. We have been handed down this tradition for quite some time. I do not want to get too deliberative on the topic, but more insight is necessary.

First We do not like the number thirteen because it is attributed to bad luck. it is a sign of evil things. The solar calendar is broken down into 12 months, however before the sun was the method for keeping time the Moon was more dominant. Such as a women having her period every 28 days. The Lunar Calendar has 13 months, not 12. And like our Zodiac their was one symbol or myth for each. The 13th being that of Ophiuchus, or the serpent.

Now if you patch into the possibility of Jewish marrying some of Babylonian traditions under their occupation under Nebuchadnezzer this could be how we picked up the tradition. Thereby understand that Hammurabi was a Semite and the number thirteen could possibly be older than both. However, thirteen coincides with Asclepius the Medicine god. You know it as the twisted serpents right in the medical symbol. So we can assume that 13 is a sumbol of dragons/great serpents.

Therefore in the tradition of Babylonian roots...Tiamat was the ruler of this thirteenth sign. And she waged war with Marduk for dominance in an everlasting battle of Good vs Evil. Evil being the 13th month, the 13 symbol. 13 symbolizes bad things and a law at 13 is avoided.

Anyway 13 is a bad number.

Answer 5

13 isn't unlucky, just misunderstood! 13 was held to be a sacred number by ancient pagans and druids. Of course over time, anything associated with them became known as "bad"! Also, 13 in numerology is 4, another sacred number.

The number 7 is fun! There are 7 days in the week, (there are also 52 weeks in a year, which numerologically--5+2--is also 7) There are 7 colors in visible light (the rainbow) There are 7 musical notes (the eighth in an "octave" is the same as the first) There are 7 deadly sins. I think "lucky" and "unlucky" are all about perception!

Answer 6

I read the previous answers and some are very interesting :).
Number 13 is considered unlucky because at dawn on Friday, October 13Th, 1307, all Knights Templar in France were to be seized and place under arrest by king's Philippe IV of France men, their preceptories placed under royal sequestration, their goods confiscated.

I think that number 7 is considered to be lucky because the word was created by God in 7 days.

Answer 7

Because 7 + 13 = 20. 2 = Balance and Union.

Answer 8

13, the number of people at the last supper, also the number of people in a traditional coven, you see jesus and his bunch were actually much like a coven,

Answer 9

I was born on the 13th so it worked out for me....my brothers on the other hand may think it was unlucky. ;) lol

Answer 10

13 is very lucky...that is the 13th letter of alphabet= M