Defy Superstition Day
Step on a crack and break your mother’s back. Broken mirrors mean seven years bad luck. Want something good to happen? Knock wood.
Much as we make fun of superstitions, they exist in every culture and still surround us with magical thinking even in our modern, practical world. One estimate has it that ninety percent of public buildings in the West have no 13th floor. Hotels, office buildings, anything tall enough to have more than twelve floors, often merrily skip over thirteen, and pretend that no one will notice. Thirteen comes after the super lucky number twelve—twelve months in the year, twelve hours times two in a day, twelve apostles at the Last Supper, at least until he showed up, Judas Iscariot, and became number thirteen.
Theatre people won’t say the name of one of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth, out loud in a theatre, calling it instead The Scottish Play. There is a rationale behind that one, though. The play begins with three witches, the Weïrd Sisters, exhorting Macbeth to become King. But as we all know, even though it must have sounded like a tempting proposition at the time—Lady Macbeth certainly goes for it hook, line, and sinker—disaster will follow. Out, out, damned spot, and all that. It’s not going to end well.
Some people, hardier souls perhaps, make a point of defying superstitions by walking under ladders and opening umbrellas indoors. Spill a little salt? Who cares?! Not going to waste more of it by throwing it at the Devil lurking over their left shoulder.
Which brings us back to thirteen. The number thirteen, in addition to being Judas’s number, also has some very positive qualities. It is a happy number, or a number that eventually reduces to one, when you add the squares of each digit. One squared is one, three squared is nine—add them and that makes ten. Again, one squared is one, and zero squared is zero—add them and you have one. O Happy Number! Thirteen is also a prime number and a Fibonacci number.
Take that, number twelve!
Of course, in addition to numbers, there are also sacred objects and animals in various cultures. Black cats crossing your path are bad luck in some cultures and are often witches’ familiars. (We know one of them personally. See Ruby of Winston & Ruby fame.) But in other cultures, for example in Ireland, they are considered good luck.
I don’t think anyone ever said anything bad about a cow, except that they’re kind of dumb. But in Hindu religion, as well as Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, they are more than pleasant providers of milk and cream for your coffee; they are sacred. And they have given us the concept of sacred cows in other milieus. A sacred cow, like a superstition, presents itself as a rule or truism that is beyond question.