Guest post Dakota Banks + Giveaway!

Today I welcome Dakota Banks to the blog and today she will be talking about Friday the 13th, because you know it's Friday the 13th so read the post, don't forget to enter the great giveaway at the end and go and hide under covers again. Or if your just like me an owner of a black cat leave the house!

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First, I’d like to thank Kim for letting me visit. It’s a pleasure to be here!

You’re reading this on Friday the 13th, a day when superstition causes people to put off travel plans, skip attending events, and not start any new projects. If you’re one of them, you have a lot of company. Approximately 20 million Americans take this unlucky day seriously to some degree, from mild (not getting on an airplane with flight #1313) to staying home in bed under the covers all day. I’d like to stay in bed under the covers, but it won’t be because I’m worried about the day of the month. 

Superstitions are beliefs that one event leads to another with no explanation in the physical world. Superstitions originate when people observe patterns, usually connected with ominous events like bad luck, sickness, or death—in other words, times of high emotional response. There is a superstition that if the first butterfly you see in the spring is white, you will have good luck all year. (I’m doomed—mine was yellow.) This might have come about when someone, somewhere in the past saw a white butterfly, and 3 other people in the village all did too, and they all had good luck that year. This mattered a great deal when “good luck” meant survival in a harsh world and people grasped at anything that would give them a clue to their uncertain futures. Take another one: When you shiver, someone’s walking on your grave. This means that someone is walking over your future grave when you get a chill that comes from nowhere, even on a warm day. Creepy! Now when we get a cold or the flu we can go to the doctor to get treated, but long ago, having a shiver (fever) was a serious thing that sometimes led to death. So the connection was shiver à illness à death à someone’s going to be walking on your grave, and soon. It’s an interesting superstition because we know there is a physical explanation here (bacteria or viruses), but the people who created this saying weren’t that clear on the connection. To them, there was no explanation in their physical world.

There are three Friday the 13th days this year, January 13th, today (two down!) and July 13th. That’s the maximum number of times the day can happen in a year. Next year, there are two instances of Friday the 13th –in 2013!) The superstition of bad luck gets a double whammy from being on a Friday and from involving the number 13. There are a number of references in the Bible to bad things happening on a Friday, from Adam taking the fateful bite of the apple to the crucifixion of Christ. In pagan religions, Friday was a day of celebration, ominously called the Witches’ Sabbath. Friday was Hangman’s Day in Britain. My favorite story about the ill portent of Friday is this, from Urban Legends:

One hundred years ago, the British government sought to quell the longstanding superstition among seamen that setting sail on Fridays was unlucky. A special ship was commissioned and given the name "H.M.S. Friday." They laid her keel on a Friday, launched her on a Friday, selected her crew on a Friday, and hired a man named Jim Friday to be her captain. To top it off, H.M.S. Friday embarked on her maiden voyage on a Friday—and was never seen or heard from again.

Then we come to the number 13. It’s unknown why the number is considered unlucky, but there are a lot of possibilities. In ancient Greece, there were 12 gods. Alexander the Great thought highly of himself and declared that he was the 13th god. He built a statue of himself and had it added to the other 12. He sickened and died shortly after. The 13th Tarot card is Death. In long ago days when goddess-worshipping societies were common, the lunar calendar of 13 months (menstrual cycles) was in effect. Later on, in a move that should have alerted us at the time, men installed a 12 month solar calendar, claiming that the number 13 was associated with witches. And it was; a witches’ coven always has 13 members. There were 13 guests at the Last Supper, Judas being the 13th. Another superstition, that the 13th guest at a dinner will soon die, is taken so seriously in some places of the world that there are groups of volunteers who have signed up to become the 14th guest on very short notice.

Follow the Mortal Path with Maliha.

It’s the adventure of several lifetimes.

I’m not superstitious. Not even the slightest. But here’s a quote from someone who is:

“When I’m reading, I will not stop on page 94, page 193, page 382, et al. The digits of those numbers add up to thirteen.” – Stephen King

If a famous horror writer feels this way maybe there’s something to be said for that appointment at home under the covers. Stay safe out there, friends.



Want to learn more about Dakota Banks?
Go to her Website or visit her Blog
You can also find her over at: Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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Giveaway

Dakota Banks is giving away an awesome Mortal path swag bag, consisting of a tote bag, 3 signed books, pens, bookmarks, magnets, and a calculator. This giveaway is international.

Please do not forget to check my giveaway policy before entering.

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