The figure "13" shares the fate of the black cat in man's indecisive attitudes. It all depends on who and where you are, whether both the cat and the 13 mean to you good luck or misfortune!

Thirteen has not universally been the unlucky number it is now generally assumed to be. Pre-Columbian Mexicans saw in it a divine figure. The Mayas worshiped "the 13 gods of the upper world" and regarded them as so holy that they saw in the "13" collectively one single deity. Thirteen steps led up to the sacred platform on which the Aztecs kept their holy fire burning for exactly fifty-two (4 x 13) years at a time.

Thirteen was then indeed an important magical, if not cosmic figure. Various myths all over the world told of a group of twelve figures who, by the addition of one, grew to the paramount number of thirteen. The sun, thus added to the twelve signs of the Zodiac, made thirteen. Indians in their pantheon paid homage to thirteen Buddhas.

Equally, in the Jewish faith, thirteen has always had a happy and sacred implication. Interpreting a passage in the book of Exodus (34, 6-7), God was believed to reveal himself by thirteen (of his) attributes, all of which expressed his bountiful mercy. Still part of every orthodox Jewish prayerbook are the "Thirteen Principles of Faith". They were drawn up in the twelfth century by Moses Maimonides, a philosopher whose constant aim was to be a Guide to the Perplexed, the very words with which he entitled his main work. To this day, Jewish boys celebrate their Bar Mitzvah, when they become full and responsible members of the community, at the age of thirteen.

Historical circumstance gave the figure "13" a specially happy role in the United States. Because of her original thirteen states, the American flag continues to display thirteen stripes and the American eagle has thirteen feathers on each wing.

Thirteen was the favorite number of the German composer Richard Wagner. Not only did he take note that his name consisted of thirteen letters, but he was born in 1813, composed thirteen operas and completed Tannhäuser on 13 March (1845).

Despite all these good associations, there are very understandable reasons for the notion of the "unlucky 13" becoming so deeply rooted in man's mind. It, too, goes back to earliest times. Now part of man's ancestral memory, it has almost become an instinct.

The ability of primitive man to count was limited. He could do so up to twelve but no further. That is why the figures beyond twelve do not have an individual and independent name, but are merely composed of a combination of the description of the previous figures. This might also explain why - for no apparent reason - the traditional multiplication table stops at "12 times 12."

If twelve was the end of the line, thirteen (which followed it) had no exact value and definite meaning at first. Hence it was a most uncertain figure and therefore fraught with mystery. It was like going into outer space - you did not know what to expect. And uncertainty has always caused man to feel uneasy and to be afraid. Utterly scared, he felt countless dangers lurking in this "unknown territory."

It was most of all this enigmatic quality of the "13" that made man fear it and that rendered the figure so fateful and foreboding. This original association has never died and, unconsciously, continues to haunt and to obsess people.

No doubt another observation of later years deepened the ominous quality thus attached to the "13." While "12" was a most "fortunate" number in the way it could be split up and could be seen as a multiple of 3 times 4 and twice 6, "13" stood all on its own. Completely indivisible, it seemed not to mix with anything else. And because of its lonely existence, as if shunning everyone else, it came to be shunned itself.

This applies to the often quoted Norse myth of the twelve gods who gathered for a banquet in Valhalla. Loki gate-crashed the party and increased their number to thirteen which led - so it was claimed - to the death of Baldur, the beloved of the gods.

The fact that "13" became a particularly unlucky number in the Christian tradition may well have its roots in the world of the occult - whether based on real or imagined facts. To begin with, Christianity as a child of Judaism actually saw nothing evil in "13." Neither Jesus nor the circle of his (twelve) closest friends shunned it. At the Last Supper, which was to become the prototype of the Holy Communion service, Christ and his twelve disciples rnade up a company of exactly thirteen as, no doubt, they had done many times previously.

But it was this very occasion that made Christians give the "13" its ominous meaning as a fateful number. Because Jesus and his twelve disciples at the Last Supper numbered thirteen, it was later thought, the crucifixion had followed. The meal and subsequent execution of Christ were seen not as a chronological sequence alone but also as a chain of cause and effect. The crucifixion had actually been the consequence of the presence of "13" at Christ's last celebration of the Jewish Passover eve. At least this became the fixed idea in many Christian minds, centuries after the event. After all, it seemed only to confirm the widespread pagan tradition of the disastrous effect of any "13."

Later on, when satanic cults tried to ridicule Christian tradition, they introduced the black mass as a mockery of the Last Supper (and the communion service that had evolved from it). And when the followers of black magic, dedicated to occult art, met in their secret covens, it was said (whether true or false really does not matter) that on each occasion they made sure to number thirteen: twelve ordinary witches plus their "warlock" - leader!

The Church was convinced that they had chosen this quorum deliberately, in direct derision of its own sacred tradition, like so many features of the black mass. One theory maintains that it was this association of "13" with witchcraft and devilry that had caused Christians forthwith to decry the figure as evil. It was unlucky and an omen of misfortune. As part and parcel of satanism, no good could ever come out of it. This was a wise move on the part of those concerned with the Christian faith who were anxious to fight a practice so abominable in their eyes. By proclaiming "13" the most unlucky of numbers, they felt they would keep people away from those satanic gatherings.

Thus a chain-reaction developed which by diverse means seemed to be determined once and for all to establish "13" as the unlucky number. If anything, this was reinforced by the pack of Tarot cards: its number "13" is called "Death" and depicted as a skeleton carrying a scythe.

Belief in the "unlucky 13" is the real reason why the thirteen loaves bakers once supplied "in bulk" were never called by their real number, but described as "a baker's dozen." People just did not dare even to utter the unfortunate figure. More so, the thirteenth loaf was regarded as a special bribe for the devil - not to spoil the sale or the bread!

Even as fashionable a hotel as the world-renowned Savoy in London, where the most famous and rich used to stay and to dine, kept a special wooden cat named Kaspar in acknowledgment of the ominous power of "13." If a party was arranged for thirteen guests, to avoid any apprehensions of bad luck, a fourteenth place was specially laid for the feline. And waiters carefully arranged and watched that Kaspar sat through the meal on the fourteenth chair!

Perhaps to make the irrational fear of thirteen respectable, the very sophisticated liked to refer to it in "learned" tongue as "triskaidekaphobia." This sounds so clever but really is so simple. All it does is to say all over again, but this time in Greek (a language in which triskaideka is "13"), that people suffer from fear (phobia) of that number. And the word carries 13 characters exactly.

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th has become an ominous day because of its association, both in legend and in history, with great misfortune. Jesus was crucified on Friday. Tradition has it, too, that Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and were expelled from the Garden of Eden on a Friday. Other disastrous biblical events alleged to have occurred on Friday were Cain's murder of Abel and the confusion of tongues at Babel, which resulted in people's being scattered all over the world.

Jesus' death on a Friday also made people think that on that day the powers of evil were at their very height. It was, therefore, the most sinister day of the week, on which people were exposed to greater risks than on any other day.

That thirteen is an unlucky number is a deeply rooted notion, or superstition, that goes back to early classical times. Greek philosophers taught that numbers dominated life. They gave each number a specific property that could bring good fortune, or bad luck.

Of all numbers, thirteen stood out as the most ominous. Indivisible, it stood all on its own, seemingly shunning other numbers and being shunned by them.

Traditionally, indeed, thirteen has proved an unlucky number. At the Last Supper, Jesus and the twelve Apostles made up a company of thirteen, a fact that was interpreted as influencing the subsequent course of events and to have resulted in the crucifixion.

If it happens that the thirteenth day of the month falls on a Friday, the evil associated with both the number and the day is compounded.