Triskaidephobia

13 happened soon after 12, and the world would never be the same again....

We all know how to count, and we all know how to count up to 13. It starts with one and goes on, quite favorably and quite enthusiastically. And when we do count up to 13, we all know that a shiver runs down our spine and all of a sudden, the ease and comfort established by the enthusiastic 12 gives way to an ominous feeling that may be we should have stopped at 12.


Following a number as positive and energetic as 12 was never an easy task to begin with- this coupled with a rather unfortunate bout of bad luck, triskaidephobia was born. And man started fearing numbers now, because he had almost run out things to fear. The amount of effort put by man to coin a term describing this new-found fear tells us how significant this fear actually is.


Buildings without 13th floors, never scheduling important endeavours on this day, praying twice as hard if an exam seems to be unavoidable- we all have gone through this, although the extent varies from person to person. Let me take a minute here and associate this number 13 with a few adjectives that devout triskaidephobics will agree upon-


ominous, scary, unfortunate, unlucky, death, pessimism

And, for most part, I do agree. The most cliched example being the Last Supper, where in Jesus Christ invited 12 disciples. Here the number 13 sparked off a revolution in religious terms, and for most part, people realised that the number probably played a big role in spurning out a religion. This example is always cited first, and I decided to not be an exception to that rule. Agreed, that may be things would have been same, irrespective of how many apostles showed up, but it does go a long distance in establishing a negative feeling towards this number.


The Norse people, people who claimed they did not know the meaning of fear, have their own story to tell.


The Norse legend of the slaying of Baldur ( the God of admiration, redemption, nobility) in a banquet in Valhalla (the Norse heaven) is another testament to the earlier point. 12 Gods were invited but Loki (the trickster) came as the uninvited 13th guest. Baldur was slayed by a sword given by Loki. Here once can see clearly how 13 plays trickster and traitor, killing everything admirable and noble. 


13 stands out as a bad omen, of things which would follow and of terrible consequences if this number was ever ignored. And soon from such gatherings people started paying close attention to who they invite. It is still believed that the first person to get up, when 13 people sit to have food, dies. And there have never been any conclusive studies to support this fact, but you never really know.

Go on, try it..... 


Moving on to other beliefs. 


In the Hebrew alphabet, the 13th letter 'm' is considered unlucky itself, since it begins and ends the word 'mem' which means death. Here we consider death in a negative connotation here, to illustrate the negative aspect of the number. 


The tradition of Sizdah-Bedaar in the Persian mythology, is an interesting one. Literally meaning 13, the Persians all leave their house on the 13th day of the first month of the year to avoid bad luck. People leave their houses, go to the country side, have a good day. This is a day of ceremony, but the ceremonial happiness only helps to mask the purpose of leaving your houses, leaving behind the 13....




These examples help us in understanding that several cultures have assigned a negative feeling to the number 13, some are scared of it and some are simply angry. 


However, I want to take some time here and help you reflect on some of the positive aspects of the number 13. After all, I always believed that every number is significant, and this means it has positive and negative aspects attached. 13 is no exception.


In Greek mythology, the number 13 is considered extremely lucky since the Greek God Zeus is considered as the 13th God and symbolizes power, courage and strength. He is considered to be the most powerful of all Greek Gods. Hence, power is also associated with 13 since ancient times.

I mean, just look at him-

If we look at the number itself, we realise that it is a prime number- incorruptible, cannot be divided, pure and a symbol of integrity. Prime numbers are probably the only quantities in this world which I believe lack the gray area. It is either that or it is nothing. It can never be divided, but it can only be finished by itself. 13.

In the Tarot card, the 13th card is the Death card, where it signifies change, recycling and transition- all in a positive way. Death, here, is looked at positively, as a way of surrendering to fate and as a way of not just self-cleansing but changing yourself. Death and metamorphosis can both be related to this number.


In Egypt, there are 13 steps in the ladder to eternity. It is said that upon reaching the 13th step, the soul reaches the source of itself and attains spiritual completion.


The Aztecs, one of the most powerful civilisations in history, believed that each day was ruled by one God. They divided their week into 13 days, and considered 13 to be extremely lucky. The 13th day was ruled by the God Tezcatlipoca who symbolized mystery psyche, illusion and magic.


However, the most relevant significance of 13 comes from the fact that 13 is the period of change and transition for every person, boy and girl, as he or she becomes a teenager. The Bar Mitzvah for Jewish boys is performed in the 13th year of their lives, when they transition from boys to men.




Ever since man began to count, he knew that he was not going to change his world forever. Every event, every person, every animal and every memory would now be related to a number. He also knew that men could lie, numbers could not. Numbers were pure, and numbers were constant, both values which he realised were slipping slowly away from man's grasp. And man slowly began living his life through numbers. He grew fond of some numbers, and with some numbers he began to get uneasy.....


13 happened slowly after 12, and the world changed forever. Be it good, or be it bad, man realised that no matter how much significance he would attach to 13, it would always be a little bit less than what the number demands. Be afraid of things you don't know, they say, or at least be very aware....

be aware of things not seen,
there are more than twelve reasons to doubt a thirteen,
put your trust in a number you can count on
there are things in your world, that only numbers have seen


ed lithium