Paraskevidekatriaphobia

It was Friday the 13th today. I had a ride over to Minnehaha Falls and along the river to Lake Street, down the River Road to Summit and home. It was just over 13 miles. I do not suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia (the fear of Friday the thirteenth), but I am a little nervous.

I took this photo of Minnehaha Falls. The water level is down some since Mr. Moohoo's photo earlier in the year - a testiment to the rampant dryness in this mosquito district. The "Laughing Waters" Falls was only giggling.



I succumbed to some word searches after learning the long word in the title. Here's some more useful (not really) things I learned.

The fear of Friday the 13th stems from two separate fears -- the fear of the number 13 and the fear of Fridays. Both fears have deep roots in Western culture, most notably in Christian theology. Thirteen is significant to Christians because it is the number of people who were present at the Last Supper (Jesus and his 12 apostles). Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th member of the party to arrive. Christians have traditionally been wary of Fridays because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Additionally, some theologians hold that Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit on a Friday, and that the Great Flood began on a Friday. In the past, many Christians would never begin any new project or trip on a Friday, fearing they would be doomed from the start.

The word "paraskevidekatriaphobia" was devised by Dr. Donald Dossey who told his patients that "when you learn to pronounce it, you're cured!"

The word "friggatriskaidekaphobia" also means a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th. Friday is Frigga's Day. Frigga (Frigg) was an ancient Scandinavian fertility and love goddess, equivalent to the Roman Venus who had been worshipped on the sixth day of the week. Christians called Frigga a witch and Friday the witches' Sabbath; modern Wiccans are happy to oblige. There is also "triskaidekaphobia", the irrational fear of things or events associated with the number 13.

Today is July 13, 2007, the second Friday the 13th of the year. There won't be another one until June 2008. The months beginning on a Sunday are the ones with a Friday the 13th.

A lot of the above stuff should be cited and in quotes. Sorry.

And I ran across "googlewhacking" a game associated with my favorite search engine. It is a game where you enter two words into google and only one hit results. For example: "gerrymandering jillionaire" which now probably has two results including this one. The game has a web site:
googlewhacking which gives some other examples.


Tomorrow is Bastille Day, followed by Nils Olai Hansen's 150th birthday. Nils was born on July 15, 1857, in Magisaas, Norway, to Hans Nilsen and Berit Marie Samuelsdtr. He was my great-grandfather. He will be pictured here on his birthday.