13... @-@

[RamesesII]

The number thirteen has long been seen as an unlucky number as well as other superstitious beliefs but is it really unlucky or does it only bring negative energy for those that believe that it is unlucky.

The number 13 is quite significant in different cultures and religions whether it be unlucky or lucky here are some examples.

In Christianity there were thirteen participants at the last supper but Judas was the 13th to sit at the table,there are thirteen apostles also it was believed that the Magi (Three kings) visited Jesus on the 13th day after his birth.
In many cultures thirteen is the age that a boy enters man hood.

There are thirteen principles of the Jewish faith

The number of Norse gods at a banquet after Loki who killed Baldr with an arrow/spear made out of mistletoe using Hodr, thus marking the beginning of Ragnarok.

Thirteen is the sixth prime number.


The number 13 is associated with bad luck in some countries, and even has a specifically recognized phobia, Triskaidekaphobia, a word which was coined in 1911. Friday the 13th has been considered an unlucky day since the 1800s, as a combination between an unlucky day, Friday, and the number 13.

Several of successful sports players have worn the number 13 including the great Shaq.

In the Great Seal of the United states there are 13 olive leaves (with 13 olives), 13 arrows, and 13 stars. These form a triangle over the eagle with the number 13 on each point. On the reverse the pyramid has 13 levels.


Apollo 13 was the only unsuccessful mission by the United States of America intended to land humans on the moon. The explosion of an oxygen tank on April 13, 1970 sent the flight crew and ground crews into several days of intense survival mode. Three astronauts returned safely to Earth. Although the primary objective of the mission failed, it is one of the most famous and inspiring space adventures in the history of the planet Earth.

and look even our Anime and RPG games are signified with this number.

The main character in the manga Black cat, Train Heartnet, has the roman numeral thirteen on his chest.

Red XIII is one of the main characters in FFVII. This number also equals the number of experiments that Dr. Hojo took on other beings, since he marked every experiment with a Roman numeral.

In FF tactics there originally used to be 13 Latin Zodiac signs with the 13th, and last one being Serpintarius..

Anyway my point is should 13 been seen as an unlucky number and superstitious or seeing it has been such a significant number throughout history should it not be seen as a unlucky number.

[Ryu-Kentoshii Hirokima]

Well, It Could be seen as an unlucky number, but it can also be seen as a lucky number as well. Confusing...Maybe, But the fact is, 13 Could mean anything to anybody...So Believe what you believe in, and just deal with what you have.

[Kilala]

Ah the perplexing number 13! I always like to annoying and call it my lucky number and it is actually one of my favourite numbers...
It's famously known as being unlucky... but... it is also hailed as lucky for some. Here are some examples:

In Sikhism, the number 13 is actually considered to be a special number since 13 is tera in Punjabi, which also means "yours" (as in, "I am yours, O Lord"). The legend goes that when Guru Nanak Dev was taking stock of items as part of his employment with a village merchant, he counted from 1 to 13 (in Punjabi) as one does normally; and thereafter he would just repeat "tera", since all items were God's creation. The merchant confronted Guru Nanak about this, but found everything to be in order after the inventory was checked. April 13 also usually turns out to be Vaisakhi every year, which is the Sikh New Year and the major Sikh Holiday.

Not only that but several successful sports figures have been known to wear the number 13.

Ozzie Guillén, manager of the 2005 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox, has worn the number throughout his baseball career. Alex Rodriguez began wearing it upon joining the New York Yankees (three, the number he had previously worn, is retired by the Bronx Bombers to honor Babe Ruth). Dan Marino, an American football player known for passing the 2nd most yards in NFL history, wore the number 13, although pundits in the sport have often cited him as the greatest quarterback never to win an NFL championship. Basketball great Wilt Chamberlain wore the number 13 on his jersey throughout his NBA career. Also, FIBA rules require a player to wear the number in international competitions (only numbers from 4 to 15 could be worn, and as there are 12 players, one must wear 13); Chris Mullin, who wore #20 in college and #17 in the NBA, wore #13 for both (1984 and 1992) of his Olympic appearances. Shaquille O'Neal wore #13 in 1996, Tim Duncan wore #13 in 2004, Steve Nash is currently wearing it for the Phoenix Suns, Yao Ming wore it in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and Mats Sundin and Bill Guerin wear 13 in the NHL. One of Iceland's all time best handball players, Sigurður Sveinsson, wore the number 13 when he played for the national team. In association football, both Gerd Müller and Michael Ballack have favoured the number 13, among others.

Another place where the number 13 is considered lucky is in Italy. However... in Campania the term/expression 'tredici' (meaning 13) is used when someone considers their luck to have taken a turn for the worse.

Another example is a University.

Colgate University also considers 13 to be a lucky number. They were founded in 1819 by 13 men with 13 dollars, 13 prayers, and 13 articles. (To this day, members of the Colgate community consider the number 13 a good omen.) In fact, the campus address is 13 Oak Drive in Hamilton, NY and the all men a cappella group is called the Colgate 13.

Of course I didn't know these I did Google it... but along with the bad there is some good?
13 is just a number but I think it's fun that it has it's own character. Whenever Friday the 13th crops up I'm always reminded of it's bad luck (although nothing bad ever happens hehe).

[RamesesII]

Haha the ability of the internet i scavenged most of my facts from good old wiki, all this came to me on my drive home from work as i looked at my key rings and i have a keyring that is a small scale version of a number 13 billiard ball and it got me thinking that i don't see it as unlucky like a lot of people do.

[Sinister]

Triskaidekaphobia is also the fear of the number itself. An irrational fear...I might add.


People are too quick to invest meaning in relatively innocent numbers. Numbers themselves are even beyond innocent. They are a construct for us to relate to various concepts that are recurring in nature and this reality. Truly, numbers themselves aren't real. How many numbers occur between the number one and the number two? There is...1.1 and 1.11 or how about 1.111? Do you see how meaningless they are? There are sets of infinity between sets of infinity and they carry on...infinitely. Technically, there are only ten symbols used to define a universe of unending figures and the various properties of those figures. It's no shock that they should reoccur both in matters of importance and unimportance.

Piazzi Smyth discovered, in 1864, that the base of the pyramids were square; each side measuring to two hundred and eight meters. Converteed into Egyptian cubits, you get a base of three hundred and sixty six.... The number of days in a leap year, yes? The height multiplied by ten to the ninth gives the distance between the earth and the sun. One hundred and forty eight million kilometers. The base divided by the width of one of the stones is three hundred and sixty five. The number of days in a year. The perimeter of the base is nine hundred and thirty one meters. Divide that by twice the height and you get 3.14. The number of Pi. Amazing yes?

Bullshit actually... Smyth played with those numbers like a kitten with a ball of yarn. 3.14 isn't Pi. 3.1415926535897932384626433832795.... and so on, is Pi. His measurements on the distance between the Earth and Sun were wrong as well. Flinders Petrie, a colleague and distinguished Egyptologist once found Smyth trying to chisel stones on the pyramid down so they fit his idiot equations.

You see what you want when you look at something as vague as numbers. Like you see faces when you look at clouds. It's so dark in the human mind that sometimes we dim things that are otherwise bright and obvious...wheedling associations out of things as common as numbers. It's sad, truly. That's not to say that there aren't important associations of numbers to discover and understand. But once you get spooked, you can see ghosts anywhere.

Superstition...Numerology...Gematria...ect... They're all dim wavy reflections recast by the carnival mirror of the human mind.

-Sin

[Xanatos]

I never really understood all the fuss about the number 13. Yes this number seems to be included in many unfortunate events but it's just a number and nothing more. I myself had one of the best days in my life on Friday the 13th. I don't really see how could a pure number be unfortunate, and I really cant believe how many people are afraid by this number.

[Che]

Maybe the fact that people freak out about the number 13 is the very reason why bad things happen when the number is involved.

[Pete]

I'm actually a big fan of the number 13. It's been my number in pretty much every sport I've ever played, even before I really gave a damn about what number I had. I guess it just stuck with me, and I've only had a bad season in baseball once, when I had number 11. I know that's probably a coincidence, but it's something of a comfort to me to have 13.

Other than that, numbers are numbers. I don't look for any specific significance to them, but I just like being #13. On top of that, I like it because nobody else really does. Not to say that I "feel bad" for a number, but it's more like, "why are you so afraid of this number, I wear it all the time, and I'm doing great."

All in all, I guess after a good almost 17 years of playing organized sports, 13 has just stuck with me, and at this point, I'm too stubborn to change it. However, if someone else had 13, I'd have to think long and hard about what number I would want. Maybe 7 or 28, I dunno.

[smithhanson]

The bottom line is that what people think of as "luck" is just chance. The number thirteen really has no effect on chance.