http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_080.html
FWIW, I had always heard that the origin of 13 being unlucky stems from the Friday the 13th bugaboo; Friday the 13th was considered unlucky because that was the day (Friday, October 13, 1307) that King Philip IV of France put the screws to the Knights Templar.
I had also heard of stories of a train with the number 13 that had many a horrific accident? Or maybe I dreamed that. Anyone else hear of other origins of this most wonderful number?
The version I got was that it had several sources:
In any case, I kind of enjoy the look of sheer terror in astrologists’ faces when they hear I was born on a March 13th at 12:47 (Wednesday). They often refuse to draw any kind of chart after seeing so many 13s - and March to boot!
Cecil,
As a pagan myself somewhat immersed in astrological facts, I could not
begin to restrain myself from commenting on the recently posted Nov 6,
1992 question from L.S. Thomas regarding the number 13.
In that individual’s question, he states: “Consequently there were 13
months and 13 zodiac signs (the Gemini twins had separate
identities)”. After falling out of my chair not unlike the way Jon
Stewart after a Bush soundbyte, I had to stick my neck out since you
seemed to let this comment go without a response.
As you and I know, “signs of the zodiac” differ from the other
constellations in our sky namely because they are lined up along an
imaginary line in the sky called the Ecliptic. The ecliptic is the
path through the stars that our sun appears to travel throughout the
year (I say “appears to travel” because there’s lots moving in this
big ol’ universe of ours and the Ecliptic is based on our perspective
from Earth, as are the constellations themselves).
We associate different signs of the zodiac with different times of the
year due to when the sun is “in” that constellation. Or supposedly. We
don’t base it on if the sun is in that constellation NOW, but on this
date a long time ago (I forget the year).
Now, what L.S. Thomas said was true to on extent. There indeed used to
be 13 signs of the zodiac, not 12, but I’ve never heard of this Gemini
nonsense. In fact, I would argue that there still are 13 signs. From
November 30 until December 18, the sun is actually in the
largely-unknown constellation of Ophiuchus, but only barely. Most of
Ophiuchus is north of the Ecliptic but there’s a handful of stars that
are on the other side of the line, unlike most signs of the zodiac
which the sun makes a more intrusive path through. Because of this,
somebody, somewhere, decided that Ophiuchus has no stage presence and
asked that the other constellations pull extra duty to cover off his
act.
Long story short, the dates of each zodiac sign are “fudged” to
account for Ophiuchus’ absence, and the dates for all 13 of them have
“drifted” anyway in the last 3,000 years or so due to astronomical
phenomena called precession and are out by about a month of what the
newspapers tell you anyway.
Regardless, Gemini was always one constellation, as far as my
research, knowledge, and common sense tells me.
Thank you, I feel so much better now.
Jef
Hammurabi ruled Mesopotamia from 1795-1750 BC, and created the Code of Hammurabi, a set of laws that have survived until today (and can be read on the internet: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/hamframe.htm). All the laws are numbered and consecutive, but there is no Law 13. The explanation I read was that having such a thing would be unlucky. So bad cess from 13 goes a long way back!