Friday the 13th - Paraskavedekatriaphobia - Superstition and Phobia

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Hello lovely Steemians !


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Today is Friday the 13th. In western civilizations this special day is often believed to be a day on which especially many misfortunes can happen. There is at least one of those days every year and it can even sum up to three per year. But to be honest, no statistic in the world claims that this is actually true. Indeed many insurance companies found out that on those special days there are even less accidents reported compared to other Fridays due to people are more careful in general. By the way, there is something similar in eastern civilization called the Tetraphobia, where people avoid instances of the digit 4.

In 2020 we have three, in February, March and November. In 2021 we will have two, in February and August .. But what is it all about?



Paraskavedekatriaphobia is an actual phobia !

Did you know that this irrational fear of a Friday of the 13th has even a proper scientific name. It is not only a simple superstition, but also a real Phobia. It is called the Paraskavedekatriaphobia. This weird sounding word derives from the Greek language. Thereby Paraskevi means Friday and Dekatreis means Thirteen. People who suffer under this phobia cancel all trips and appointments, avoid public transportation and flies, or do not even dare to get out of bed on a Friday the 13th. It is an actual fear of this day and classifies as a phobia.



Where does it come from ?

Paraskavedekatriaphobia is actually an climax of the basic phobia called Triskaidekaphobia, the irrational fear of the number 13. This phobia derives from the christian belief that the number 13 is equal to the Dozen of the Devil. and therefore highly diabolic. Christian hardcore fanatics back in the day where afraid of everything that was associated with this number. In addition, according to the New Testament, The Crucifixion of Jesus was on a Friday and Christianity commemorates suffering and dying on Good Friday, a day of fast and mourning. Also at the Last Supper, Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was believed to be the 13th to sit at the table. This together created the belief that Friday the 13th is the evillest day of the year and led to the Raise of the Paraskavedekatriaphobia. So it is basically a superstition based phobia especially made for and by hardcore Christians.



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By the way, this picture I show you here was taken on a Friday in June 2014 ^^ .. There did no accident or other bad things happen that day. They only thought, that a hiking holiday with me would be an easy thing to do, hahaha ^^ I proofed them wrong ;) .. It was in the Stołowe Mountains, also known as the Table Mountains, a 42 km long mountain range at the border between Poland and the Czech Republic.


I hope you enjoyed this little explanations. Thanks for reading ^^


All pictures were taken by myself, ©@adalger, with a Panasonic Lumix DMC. For information gathering I used several articles on Wikipedia

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If you want to know more about me, just look up my Introduceyourself post or follow my blog ^^

Learn more about @adalger here !

Best wishes,
Adalger

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27 comments
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Good day @adalger, interesting post. I'd never heard of the "Paraskavedekatriaphobia" part, but I was familiar with Triskaidekaphobia.
I'd also like to add a bit of legend (definitely debunked).
You've heard of the "Knights Templar"?
By the middle of the middle ages, they were immensely powerful, rich and owned a GREAT amount of real estate across Europe.
The King of France ( Philip IV of France) colluded with the Catholic Church, so that the Templars were disbanded, their property confiscated by the Crown and the church, their members (especially their leaders) were hunted down and executed.
The LEGEND was that all this occurred on Friday the 13th.The events are true, the date for the events are not.
King Philip did his thing in 1307, Pope Clement V did his in 1312

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Oh yes, there are tons of stories about Friday the 13th out there. But this one is an excellent one and a great example how powerful this superstition actually is. Thanks for commenting it here ^^

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@adalger
Wow, go info! For the first time I hear about this, I find it interesting sounds mystical and funky!
I enjoyed it

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Hehe, I actually know none who has a real phobia, but many that are superstitious enough be be very careful on that day ^^

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This is interesting story and although I am not superstitious, my day today started horribly wrong. I was stuck in the lift and almost late for work. But apart from that nothing else disturbed my daily routine.

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Hehe, good that you are not superstitious, otherwise this start would have demotivated you maybe 🙄 .. But people who love cats are always lucky ones 😉🐱

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Personally, I don't believe in these things, I was born on the 13th, and I celebrated my birthday several times on Friday the 13th and nothing bad happened.

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Hehe 🤣 .. This opens up the way for a fantastic "superstition" motto birthday party 😉

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Hahaha. sorry but I have to laugh at this truth, untruth here.
The truth is the phobia and the untruth is that my son was born on the 13th of July.
No harm has ever befallen him when the date falls on a Friday, simply because he doesn't believe in it. I put him wise when he was small and the guys at school used to tease him.
One wonders at the naivety of people, as they are so prepared to believe that rumors are fact.
Same in the Guy Fawkes instance where people celebrate an attempt at sabotage here in South Africa.
A funny world that we live in mate.
Blessings!

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(Edited)

Superstitions and believes are sometimes very powerful. Most of them do no real harm, but it must have been horrible if you actually belief in superstition in the former times . One of the the most weird naivities I know was maybe the burning of the witches or the selling of indulgences by the catholic church. We are so blessed that science enlightened us in all that years 😊 .. Most of us 😉 .. So I assume you believe in the 13 to be a lucky number 🍀 .. Ohh while I see this leave here, in Ireland it is a sign of luck, but in Asia the number 4 is a unlucky one 🤞.. Weird and funny world indeed

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A funny world indeed my friend and true that in the old days people died for their beliefs. So many today chase after the money god and if it were in the old days everyone would have been stoned Lol.
Blessings!

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Ah! I had forgot it was Friday 13th today, that's how superstitious I am! That phobia seemed like it grew from people wanting to error on the side of caution but taking it a little too far!
Thanks for sharing!

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I never knew all the background, so it's definitely neat to come across. My daughter was born on a Friday the 13th, so the day has been pretty good to me, and to her!

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Wow, so you are in the club of the "Lucky Thirteen" .. If you believe in this being a lucky day instead you will wake up smiling on every single one and are able to maket the best out of those days 🍀 .. We can just use superstitions and covert them into something super happy and lucky 😜

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Thank you for your post. The phobia appears to have begun either when the knights templar were rounded up and executed or, perhaps, even between the Last Supper and Crucifixion of Jesus. Have a great weekend.

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It is actually really hard to say when it really started .. As a child I always wondered if this could be true and looked for evidence, but I never found one 😂

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Sometimes it's easy to find dates that corroborate with a superstition. I don't think anyone will every find the origin point of when the belief took hold. All we can do is speculate.

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Hi there @adalger, my favorite # is 13, second favorite # 3 go figure. hehe

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Hehe, than this special Friday you were the most blessed person I suppose. I hope you had an amazing day 🤣

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