Happy New Year 2013! This is perhaps the most feared year this century because it contains the number 13, which is making millions of people around the world very nervous. They even changed the law in Ireland because of fear of 13- when a new car is sold, the last 2 digits of the year are required on the license plate, but because of superstition, the plates will now read 131 for the first half of the year, and 132 for the second half in an attempt to encourage people to purchase cars. Some may think this is ridiculous, but the facts are that on every Friday the 13th, the economy loses a fortune because people don't buy, get married, close on homes, etc. Heck, the Navy will not even launch a ship on that date! Now, we have an entire year of 13's which will no doubt stop people in some form.
Here is excerpt from an article I found...
2013 | Are you superstitious?
It’s 2013: Good luck with that
How will we survive an entire year of ‘13’?
BY JAMES A. FUSSELL
The Kansas City Star
We managed to make it through the Mayan apocalypse. Now let’s see if we can survive — bum bum bummm! — the unluckiest year of the century.
Time to hide in the basement, all you Superstitious Sallys and Bad Luck Barneys. Its 2013.Big deal?It could be. National Geographic once estimated that on each Friday the 13th the economy loses more than $800 million from consumers avoiding travel, moves, movies, dinner, weddings and more. You have to wonder: How much more will be lost in a whole year branded with the number 13?
Ignore triskaidekaphobia — fear of the number 13 — at your own risk. Sure, Missouri and Kansas made you put a 2013 sticker on your license plate when you renewed your registration last year. But the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles doesn’t want any part of that bad juju. The office is offering an option. Instead of renewing for one year, drivers can renew for either two or three years so their stickers read 2014 or 2015..."
“Am thinking of a 2013 wedding,” posted one bride
to be, “Jennifervola.” “Does anyone consider it bad luck to get marriwhen 13 is involved, or am I just being crazy?”
The answers were all the same:
“Crazy.”
“Deff being crazy.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!”
“Jordyana” had more to say: “I’m graduating (from) college in 2013 (and) getting married in 2013. Wanna know something extra scary? I’m getting married on July 13, 2013! No, neither (my fiance) nor I believe in superstitions. We do poke fun, though, and say we won’t be cursed for getting married then since we’ll have been together for seven years. Hopefully the seven will outweigh all the 13s.”...
Still, some people really do worry about 2013, said Donald Dossey, founder of the Stress Management Center/Phobia Institute in Asheville, N.C. Dossey has been studying phobias for 18 years, including triskaidekaphobia and paraskevidekaphobia, the morbid fear of Friday the 13th. He estimates that up to 19 million people around the world fear the number 13.
“It will be problematic for some,” Dossey said of 2013. “They might think something ominous will happen, that they might have a wreck, get ill or even have marital problems. It’s just a nagging sense of impending doom.”
But the biggest problems, he says, will come in September and December, months harboring the year’s most ominous dates — Friday the 13th, 2013!
“On Friday the 13th some people won’t even get out of bed,” said Dossey.
“Here we go again,” said Joe Nickell, an investigative writer for Skeptical Inquirer science magazine.“No matter how often it doesn’t come true when people gather and wait for doom, (some) people always take the bait the next time. You would think eventually they would learn.”
They don’t. What about the hundreds of hotels and office buildings that choose not to have a 13th floor? Or the hundreds of airports, including Kansas City International, that don’t have a Gate 13? Or developers who bypass 13 when numbering new homes? Or the auto industry group in Ireland that predicted sales of 2013 models would plummet by one third in that country (where they know a thing or two about luck)?
No, this has been going on a while: Long enough for somebody to figure out that Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and Jack the Ripper all have 13 letters in their names.
Long enough to stretch back to early Christianity (where Jesus was betrayed by Judas, the 13th guest at the Last Supper), and Norse mythology (where Loki, the 13th guest at a dinner party, had Balder the Beautiful shot with a mistletoe-tipped arrow, plunging Earth into darkness).
Long enough, even, for one researcher to discover that ancient Babylon’s Code of Hammurabi, dating to about 1772 B.C., omitted the number 13 in its list of laws.
Cesar Camarillo, a machinist from Kansas City, Kan., doesn’t put much stock in “curse of 13” as his grandfather called it. Just the same he’ll be wearing his gold cross every day, carrying a lucky amulet in his pocket and getting two tattoos on his chest this year — one of praying hands, the other of the Virgin Mary.
“I don’t really believe in this stuff,” he said, smiling and turning quickly to glance behind his back. “Then again, why tempt fate? You know?”
Oh, we know. That’s why we’re looking out for you — just in case.
The Irish auto industry notwithstanding, local car dealers say they aren’t worried. Jesse Egarta, sales manager at O’Neill Honda in Overland Park, hasn’t seen any superstition-fueled slowdown.
“Our sales of 2013 models have actually sped up faster than we anticipated,” he said. “I don’t even think about the hype that everybody’s talking about.”
So will anything bad happen in 2013?
As they say, the best predictor of the future is the past. So if 2013 really is going to be this scary year of bad luck, as some people fear, it just makes sense that something really horrible must have happened 100 years ago in the last year that ended in 13.
OK, how’s this? On Feb. 3, 1913, the states ratified the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving the government the power to impose and collect … income tax.
Uh-oh...."
Looking around, there are many sites and articles relating to this. I feel sorry for the Queen of England, who will not even sit at a table with 13 people. What is she going to do for the rest of the year? Seriously, this could be very bad for some people with OCD, as it might make their ritualizing even worse. Unlike a building with no 13th floor, we can't get away from this one. And two super 13 days are approaching -Friday the 13th in September and one in December.
So, if you're feeling a little anxious, you're certainly not alone. However, year may bring benefits, as it can be one huge lesson in behavioral therapy, as we have to face the number 13 every single day. Eventually, some people may become free of their fear. I really hope so and I wish everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year!
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