NationStates Jolt Archive

Hey, I was sitting here waiting for Jolt to, you know, budge at all ... and I noticed the date in the corner of the screen.

It's Friday the 13th!

I was sadly deprived of superstition as a child, and have never really developed the knack of being scared for no reason at all.

So can someone tell me what I'm supposed to feel now that it's Friday the Thirteenth?

Should I be doing something like praying to Satan, to make it scarier?

Is this a better or worse day than any other to go skydiving ?

Much better. Just remember your 10lb ankle cuffs. ;)

Hey, I was sitting here waiting for Jolt to, you know, budge at all ... and I noticed the date in the corner of the screen.

It's Friday the 13th!

I was sadly deprived of superstition as a child, and have never really developed the knack of being scared for no reason at all.

So can someone tell me what I'm supposed to feel now that it's Friday the Thirteenth?

Should I be doing something like praying to Satan, to make it scarier?

Is this a better or worse day than any other to go skydiving ?


I'm pretty sure if you don't feel anything already, youre not suppose to.

It's kind of like Halloween. Everybody in the states celebrates. Everyone in Australia forgets it even excists as a holiday. So each to their own i guess.

Unless you do want to sacrifice a goat/prey to Satan/Go skydiving all at the same time, you could make it a tradition.

I almost swallowed my watch :(

Hey, I was sitting here waiting for Jolt to, you know, budge at all ... and I noticed the date in the corner of the screen.

It's Friday the 13th!

I was sadly deprived of superstition as a child, and have never really developed the knack of being scared for no reason at all.

So can someone tell me what I'm supposed to feel now that it's Friday the Thirteenth?

Should I be doing something like praying to Satan, to make it scarier?

Is this a better or worse day than any other to go skydiving ?

Long before there were any horror movies, Friday the 13ths were days just noted for bad luck. I can remember my grandmother reminding us to be extra careful. Implying that bad luck was more prevalent on such Fridays.

I do find myself even now cringing when it is a Friday the 13th. And I hope I don't see a black cat at all. That just compounds the risks. ;)

As far as why they are bad luck, I haven't a clue except grandma said so.

I'm pretty sure if you don't feel anything already, youre not suppose to.

It's kind of like Halloween. Everybody in the states celebrates. Everyone in Australia forgets it even excists as a holiday. So each to their own i guess.

I guess it makes a difference that Halloween is not actually a public holiday in Aus. It's apparently a "holiday" in the US, but I'm not sure what that means. Oh well.

I think it's a fun thing we should do, the pumpkins and so on but not so much the way it's turning into an orgy of consumerism like a mini-Christmas.

Long before there were any horror movies, Friday the 13ths were days just noted for bad luck. I can remember my grandmother reminding us to be extra careful. Implying that bad luck was more prevalent on such Fridays.

I do find myself even now cringing when it is a Friday the 13th. And I hope I don't see a black cat at all. That just compounds the risks. ;)

As far as why they are bad luck, I haven't a clue except grandma said so.

I hope you don't own a black cat. The poor thing would wonder what the hell was going on.

Don't make out with your boyfriend/girlfriend at the abandoned summer camp. Ever.

One of the cool folklores is 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.

Link (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0212_040212_friday13.html)

This would make for a cool movie! :D

One of the cool folklores is 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.

Link (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0212_040212_friday13.html)

Hey, that could be the origin of it?

I do wonder though, if even that story is influenced by some deep intimation that Twelve is a better number than Thirteen.

(Which it isn't, of course, you won't catch me dissing a prime number anywhere or anytime, they are all sacred *crosses self to avoid the evil i*)

There are thirteen lunar months in a year (well, within a day or so) but one of them got abolished for similarly arbitrary reasons. Maybe we're just afraid of thirteens, even before we got down to making stories to explain the world ?

And, like, we can't be afraid of the thirteenth of EVERY month, that would be lame.

It's kind of like Halloween. Everybody in the states celebrates. Everyone in Australia forgets it even excists as a holiday. So each to their own i guess.

I think people forget that it exists as a holiday because it isn't a holiday, and doesn't really have any strong symbolism or history in Australia.

I remember last year I had some 15 year old punk come around looking for chocolate or lollies, I told him to bugger off. A bit harsh I know but I will not have some American tradition infiltrate my shores. If you want to celebrate Halloween how about celebrating it like the Mexicans, where you honour the dead.

I've never known any Americans to celebrate Friday the 13th like Halloween but then again I live in Florida where every holiday *except* The 4th of July (which is usually peak fire season) is celebrated with gratuitous displays of fireworks.

Last year on a Friday the 13th I found $20 on the sidewalk, but then again on Friday August 13th 2004 Hurricane Charley hit like 20 miles from what was at that time my hometown (and briefly had it right in the "you're about to be fucked by a hurricane" cone) so all in all 13ths have been a mixed bag for me.

Sacrificing one's first-born child gives ones extra kudos in Hell. Depending on the entity invoked it may be best to have said child be a virgin or be thoroughly defiled.

Both the number thirteen and Friday have been considered unlucky:

In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve recognized signs of the zodiac, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve Apostles of Jesus, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness. There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.

Friday, as the day on which Jesus Christ was crucified, has been viewed both positively and negatively among Christians. The actual day of Crucifixion was the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew Lunar calendar which does not correspond to "Friday" in the solar calendar of Rome. The 15th day of Nissan (beginning at Sundown) is celebration of Passover.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_13th

I'm not superstitious at all, but I have to say I still have a moment of worry when I hear the day is coming up. It's only because of years of people talking about it as being unlucky - nothing has ever happened to me on one.

I was born just past midnight on Saturday 14th, my mother held on to ensure I wasn't born on the 13th. She's in no way superstitious normally but I guess when it comes to your child you don't take chances.

I was kind of annoyed when I heard the story, I'd quite like to have been born on Friday 13th and I like to think that, in some ways, I was.

It's Tuesday the 12th in Spain that is the unlucky day, so just relocate if you feel no proper connection to Friday the 13th.

I think people forget that it exists as a holiday because it isn't a holiday, and doesn't really have any strong symbolism or history in Australia.

The "symbolism" is pretty pyschotic anyway. Seems to be pretty much "let those pagans and other heathens blow off some steam so they don't wreck All-Saints Day for us."

I remember last year I had some 15 year old punk come around looking for chocolate or lollies, I told him to bugger off. A bit harsh I know but I will not have some American tradition infiltrate my shores.

But Punk isn't American. It was more like, you know, British.

You should have invited him in for a bong. And explained how the tradition of All-Hallows Eve is not really American at all, but Irish, and how the Irish were kinda economic refugees from the British Empire who came to Australia as well as the States.

And if you were feeling particularly judgemental, you could explain how begging door to door is kind of rude, even if you are really hungry. How people's homes really are their private space, and that knocking on their door is something you should only do if you KNOW you have business with them, not speculating that they might want to have business with you.

Then you give him one more bong, tell him "That was your treat ... now for the trick," and murder him with the bear-trap you have built into the lounge!

Don't make out with your boyfriend/girlfriend at the abandoned summer camp. Ever.

No, it's not the making out Jason hates, it's the sex. Jason was a frustrated virgin. *nod*