The unreasonable fear of number 13 or triskaidekaphobia is
prevalent to some people in different cultures. People can be anxious of 13 as
a quantity, a numerical designation or a date, and more so if the 13 falls on a
Friday. The belief that the number brings bad luck is as old as written history itself.
The Code of Hammurabi (ca 1686 B.C.) contained 282 laws with no law number 13
in it. It is evident therefore that the phobia existed long before Christ was
born. There are numerous speculations on how the fear of number 13 came about.
One of the common held beliefs is on Jesus and his disciples. The Bible has it
that Jesus had his last supper with his 12 disciples at a table. We are told that
one of the disciples Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus to His enemies who punished
and executed Him.
Following paragraphs are accounts of prominent incidents and
personalities on which the number 13 are associated with:
King Alfonso XIII was the king of Spain when it completely
lost what remains of its once vast and great empire after the Spanish-American War of
1898. The Spaniards sold and ceded Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam
to the Americans. The post humus son of King Alfonso XII, Alfonso XIII was
proclaimed king upon his birth on May 17, 1886 with his mother Maria Christina
acting as his regent. He assumed power as king in 1902 at the age of 16. His
support to military dictatorship under general Primo de Rivera made him an
unpopular monarch, and the victory of the republicans in 1931 forced him into
exile in Italy.
Apollo 13 is a NASA space mission in 1970 that failed. The space
ship crew was not able to land on the moon because of technical malfunction.
They were however able to return to the earth safely.
Joseph Estrada was the 13th President of the
Republic of the Philippines and the only one who was impeached from office. He
was also one of the three post American independence presidents who did not
complete their term of office. The other presidents were Manuel Roxas who died
of a heart attack in 1948 and Ramon Magsaysay who died in a plane crash in
1953.
The year 2013 is the 13th year of the 21st
century. The number 13 is not lucky for the Philippines either. This year the
Philippines suffered a series of worst natural and man-made calamities as
follows:
On September 9-28, 2013, members of the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) belonging to the faction of Chairman Nur Misuari besieged
the Southern Philippine City of Zamboanga. The armed conflict resulted to 183
killed, 292 captured on the side of the MNLF and 25 killed, 184 wounded on the side
of government troops. In addition there were 12 killed and 70 wounded civilians
and thousands of houses were razed to the ground and business and government
activities were paralyzed.
On October 15, 2013 at 8:12 am (PST) an earthquake of
tectonic origin and in the magnitude of 7.2 mw hit Bohol. The earthquake that
lasted 34 seconds resulted to 222 dead, 976 injured and 8 missing. In addition
73,000 structures were damaged of which 14,500 were totally destroyed. It was the
deadliest earthquake in the Philippines for the last 23 years. It is estimated
that the energy released by the quake was equivalent to 32 Hiroshima bombs.
Early in November 2013 typhoon Yolanda struck Central
Philippines particularly the provinces of Samar and Leyte. The typhoon which
had a wind speed of about 260 kph on landfall was the strongest on record. The
strong wind and storm surge destroyed thousands of lives and properties along
their path. The deadly typhoon killed at least 5,680 and injured 26, 232 people.
It is also estimated that 1,761 people are still missing. Damaged was estimated
at PHP 17,033,150,996.36 in agriculture and PHP 17,333,367,534.29 in infrastructure
for a total cost of damage at PHP 34,366,518,530.65.
Because of their unreasonable fear of number 13 people take “precautions”
to ward off bad lucks that are associated with the number. As an example, there
is no 13th floor in high rise buildings. There is no 13th
Infantry Battalion or any other unit with numerical designation “13” in the
Philippine Army. And people do not want to go with a group whose total number
of members is 13.
Despite some people’s phobia of 13, others consider it as
their lucky number. Wilt Chamberlain of the NBA wore a jersey with that number
all throughout his successful career. And so did Steve Nash when he was with
the Phoenix Suns. Artist Taylor Swift who was born on December 13, 1989 considers
13 as her lucky number too.
Associating number 13 to bad luck is just a sort of
superstition. Bad things that happened with a number 13 associated with them or
those that take place on the 13th in the calendar are just mere
coincidences. Misfortunes happen too where or when numbers other than 13 are
used or involved. Since some people have the misconception that number 13
brings bad luck, any unfavorable incident that can be associated with the
number is given much highlight. What we want to believe influences our
thoughts.
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