VENUS CATCHES UP TO MARS

Image Gallery Hawk Mountain in prime spotting season. PHOTOS COURTESY OF HAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY

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Issue # 152 - October/November 1995

By Fred Schaaf

October not only brings us the holiday of Halloween this year, but also that nemesis of the superstitious, Friday the 13th. The day-date combination is considered unlucky because Friday is supposed to be the unluckiest day and 13 the unluckiest number (putting them together is, presumably, a double dose of bad luck). But why have Friday and the number 13 gained their ill reputation in the first place? The day itself is considered more than favorable to all who have shouted "T.G.I.F.!" at the end of their work week. And Friday is the holy day of the Moslem week. But an older tradition in Christianity would hold Friday the darkest day: After all, it is the day (in either 30 or 33 A.D. we now think) that Jesus was crucified.

Then there is the number. You probably know the extent to which 13 worries some people (maybe even you!). There are office buildings without 13th floors (or, rather, they do have 13th floors, it's just that the management has cleverly decided to call the 13th floor "the 14th floor"). There is even a name for a pathological fear of 13: triskaidekaphobia.

So what's wrong with 13? One theory is that there were 13 people at the Last Supper and the 13th was Judas Iscariot, the traitor. In Norse mythology, a feast of 12 gods and goddesses was joined by a 13th figure, the god of mischief, Loki, whose presence led to the death of the beloved god Baldur the Beautiful—and eventually to the downfall of the gods and the end of the world (and we think we've had some unwelcome guests!). We also try to have 12 months in a year (actually 12 lunations—cycles from one lunar phase to its next occurrence—is considerably less than 365 or even 360 days). So many numbers can be divided evenly into 12:1,2,3,4,6, and 12 itself. But 13 has as its factors only 1 and itself; it is a "prime number." Of course, 7 and 11 are also prime numbers and they haven't gotten bad press.

Whether or not we can understand why Friday the 13th is supposed to be bad luck, the fact remains that people do notice it, so it's interesting to figure out how often it occurs. The simple answer is that Friday the 13th can happen either once, twice, or three times in a year. In 1995 you've had to endure it back in January, and now get it again in October. Both 1993 and 1994 had only one Friday the 13th. On the other hand, if a "common year" (year that isn't a leap year) starts on a Thursday, we have three Friday the 13ths. This happened in 1981 and 1987, and will next happen in 1998. We can also get three Friday the 13ths in a leap year, if that year begins on a Sunday—such as occurred in 1984. So is Friday the 13th really unlucky? Well, according to writer Guy Ottewell, people in some parts of the world have other ideas: In South America the unlucky day is Tuesday and in Italy the unlucky number is 17. Go figure.

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