DAVE’S DOOR: Triskaidekaphobia: from mythology to theology

Do you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia, a fear of Friday the 13th?

Many do, to the point of millions reportedly refusing to leave their homes on this date, even though stats do not show a higher rate of injury or misfortune compared with any other day.

But superstitions abound and are taken extremely seriously by many.

It’s interesting to see where and how they originated.

Some are easy to figure out, like not walking under a ladder, which probably started when someone took a shortcut below a worker who was painting a wall and bumped the ladder.

But how did the Friday 13th myth arise?

According to Wikipedia, there are two main schools of thought.

One is that it came from a Norse legend about 12 gods having a party that was gate-crashed by an uninvited 13th god, Lokie, who arranged an archery hit by the blind god Hoor, on Balder – yet another god.

(The RSA version would involve Louwtjie, Luister and Meer-Bles.)

Balder died from the pierced arrow and the earth purportedly became dark, mournful and unlucky.

Ironically, the other most likely source is from the Bible: the account of The Last Supper, to be precise, where there were 13 persons present in the upper room.

It does not take a genius to determine that the presence of Judas Iscariot brought about major ‘bad luck’.

Human beings don’t need much encouragement to take a basic fact, embellish it and rewrite it into something else, as any online observer knows only too well.

But I have something different to say about The Last Supper.

While listening last week to the TV show, ‘The Chase’, the question was asked, “Who is sitting next to Jesus in Leonardo da Vinci’s classic painting?”

The answer was ‘Thomas’; and even though the tables-and-chairs portrait is far removed from a true depiction of how they would have sat, it is an acknowledged masterpiece.

The guests would in fact lie on low couches, reclining on their left side, head toward the table, and eating from the food with their right hands.

Customarily, the guest of honour would recline to the host’s immediate left, and a trustworthy friend to his right.

The scriptures reveal that: John leans on Jesus and whispers to Him, so he was to the Lord’s right; Peter beckons to John, so he was opposite Peter; and Jesus dips into the food and feeds Judas, who was on his left, in the seat of honour.

The latter is a lesson on forgiveness rather than ancient meal traditions or deductive reasoning.

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