Paraskevidekatriaphobia???

Once again we must prepare ourselves for the dreaded Friday the thirteenth! Are you taking any chances on this day of fright and fear? If so, you are clearly not superstitious, nor do you suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia. Paraskevidekatriaphobics — people afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th. A Friday occurring on the 13th day of any month is considered to be a day of bad luck. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they are simply unable to get out of bed when Friday the 13th rolls around.This fear of 13 is so strong in that, according to Dr. Donald Dossey, founder of the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, more than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor. Many airports skip the 13th gate and hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13. On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half, a similar phenomenon is seen in the United States whereby the house or apartment is sometimes numbered 12A. In French society, socialites known as quatorziens (fourteeners) were for hire to serve as 14th guests to a dinner party, because having exactly thirteen people at a meal was considered to cause unlucky fate. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute estimates that more than 17 million people are affected by a fear of this day.According to Smithsonian Magazine "fear of the #13 costs American a billion dollars per year in absenteeism, train and plane cancellations, and reduced commerce on the 13th of the month." Any month that begins on a Sunday will contain a Friday the 13th. There are numerous popular stories that mark this date as inauspicious

· Many Christians have long believed that Friday was unlucky because it was the day of the week when Jesus was crucified. The number 13 was believed to bring bad luck because there were 13 people at The Last Supper. Since there were 12 tribes of Israel, that number was considered lucky

· Thirteen was also a sinister number in Norse mythology. Loki, one of the most evil of the Norse gods, went uninvited to a party for 12 at Valhalla, a banquet hall of the gods. As a result, he caused the death of Balder, the god of light, joy, and reconciliation. Loki tricked Balder's blind brother, Hod, into throwing a sprig of mistletoe at Balder's chest. Since mistletoe was the only thing on Earth fatal to Balder, the beloved god fell dead

· During the Middle Ages, the superstition against Friday the 13th grew. On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templars and sixty of his senior knights in Paris. Thousands of others were arrested elsewhere in the country. After employing torture techniques to compel the Templars to "confess" to wrongdoing, most were eventually executed and sympathizers of the Templars condemned Friday the 13th as an evil day. Over time a large body of literature and folk wisdom has reinforced the belief. In the 18th century, the HMS Friday was launched on Friday the 13th. It was never heard from again. Since then, ships are not usually launched on that date.