Friday the 13th, which category do you belong to? Because there are two schools! On the one hand, those who will carefully avoid the ladders and drop salt ... On the other hand, the optimists. Friday the 13th, we try our luck at the Loto, we re-negotiate our loan to the bank…. What are the origins of this ancient myth?
Before embarking on historical considerations, just a quick update. Friday the 13th has nothing to do with black cats. Black cats are simply cats and incidentally, they are black, that's all! To find the origins of this superstition, we must go back in time and not stop at a single era or a single religion. And yes, the myth is composite! First, Friday. In the three main monotheistic religions (belief in a single god), Friday is a special day. For Christians, this is a day of penance in memory of Christ who died on a Friday, according to the Bible. For Muslims, this is the day for prayer. Among the Jews, it is the day that we agree to prepare Shabbat. We can already say that Friday is a holy day for the religions of the Book. What about 13? What is special about this number? Remember your catechism or simply religious history. Jesus shares his last meal with his 12 apostles and the thirteenth (the laggard) betrayed him. But the symbolism of the 13 would go back further in the history of Man. We find in different mythologies, including Nordic mythology, this reference to a disastrous dinner for thirteen guests. In Roman mythology, it is the number that breaks the harmony. The twelve being considered as perfectly balanced, the additional unity brought by the 13 breaks with perfection. And we know how much the Romans sought harmony. Friday is, for them, the day of Venus (this is also the origin of the word Friday, "the day of Venus"), goddess of beauty and love. Friday the 13th was therefore for the Romans a mixture between beauty and perfect harmony and dissonance and imperfection. What make them schizophrenic every Friday the 13th! Finally, in pagan beliefs, the 13 would refer to "thirteen lunar cycles between the" death "of nature in winter and its rebirth in spring," according to Le Point magazine. If according to historians, it is not possible to find the exact starting point of the myth, we can think that these are elements that have been grafted together and come from different cultures. Again, a fine example of multiculturalism!_NB
8,200 total views
No comments