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yourself that question today, of course, on Friday the 13th, legendary
in Western culture as the day when bad stuff happens.The origins
of the superstitions surrounding unlucky 13s include the Norse myth of
an uninvited 13th guest at a feast in Valhalla resulting in the death
of Baldur, the god of joy, and the 13 diners at Jesus' last supper.Combine
that with the ill-fated events that have supposedly occurred on a
Friday -- Eve tempting Adam with an apple, Cain slaying Abel, the start
of the Great Flood and the crucifixion of Christ -- and you've got
paraskevidekatriaphobia.In other words, fear of Friday the 13th,
a condition suffered to some extent by about 20 million Americans, said
Donald Dossey, a behavioral scientist and founder of something called
the Stress Management Center/Phobia Institute in Asheville, N.C.Dossey
estimated people who aren't thanking God it's Friday the 13th cost the
U.S. economy about $800 million because they're not signing business
contracts, or they're avoiding airplane flights or they're simply not
getting out of bed to go to work. But that's not an option for Dossey,
author of a book on holiday folklore and phobias. "It is the busiest
day for me," he said."I've already done about 15 interviews," he said Thursday morning.When
we got our turn, we asked Dossey why there isn't an opposite of Friday
the 13th -- something like a Lucky Tuesday the 27th or Monday the 8th."I don't know," Dossey said."Our culture is a doom culture," he suggested. "Make one up. Maybe you can start one.""That's a really fun idea," urged Marlene Brown, a spokeswoman for Treasure Island Resort & Casino."It
would probably benefit casinos," she said. Although the casino didn't
see a drop in business in the past three Fridays that fell on the 13th,
she said."Every day is lucky at Treasure Island," Brown said."You
can argue that it's March 17," said Patrick H. O'Neill Jr., a St. Paul
lawyer and Mr. Pat 2006, the king of the St. Paul St. Patrick's Day
parade. "Everybody's a wee bit Irish on March 17, and if you're Irish,
you're lucky.""How about Aug. 20? ... That's my birthday," said Lani Lucky, a student from Kenyon, Minn."Actually,
I haven't been Lucky all my life," she admitted Thursday, a day when
her car wouldn't start. "That's my married name. I got married in 1991
and divorced in 1992.""I kept the name because everybody likes it," she said. "Our dog is named Lucky."If you want to get people to believe there will be a day when everyone will be lucky, well, lotsa luck, says University of Southern Indiana psychology professor Christopher Bloom.Superstitions
about avoiding bad things are much more prevalent and potent in
people's minds than ones that predict good things, Bloom said."It's
a much more powerful idea, it's a more powerful paradigm, that if you
do the right thing, nothing bad is going to happen," Bloom said.In
other words, if you don't slip on a banana peel or lose your wallet
today, you might not automatically conclude that the Friday the 13th
curse is bunk. It's just that you got lucky.Connecticut College psychology professor Stuart Vyse agrees. "We are a very fear-oriented people," he said.
Vyse noted that good luck tends to be a more individual or local phenomena, while bad events can affect everyone.An earthquake, for example, can wipe out thousands and wreck an economy, but not everyone can win the lottery."In fact, it would not be as fun if everyone did," he said."Your birthday is always going to be lucky," Vyse said. But "as for a shared lucky day, for everyone, it's not going to happen in the same way."Richard Chin can be reached at rchin@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5560.BAD LUCK DAY?Every
year will have one to three Friday the 13ths, superstition expert
Donald Dossey says. According to one calculation, in a 400-year span of
time, more 13ths will arrive on a Friday than any other day of the week.Dossey said he knows of two folk remedies to ward off bad luck
today: Take all your holey socks up to a high point, burn them and
throw the ashes out the window. Or stand on your head and chew and
swallow a piece of beef gristle.According to a Chinese almanac,
today is an "adverse to action" day, bad for ceremonies, construction
or visiting graves, but good for traveling, planting or getting a
haircut, said Twin Cities feng shui consultant Carole Hyder.Maybe Friday, April 13, 2029, will be Earth's shared good-luck
day. That's when asteroid 2004 MN4 will shoot across the sky and miss
Earth by only 18,600 miles, which is closer than some satellites fly,
according to a NASA Web site.
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