Happy Friday the 13th

Are you a friggatriskaidekaphobe (in other words, a person with an overwhelming fear of Friday the 13th)? Well, then, what’re you reading this for? Go back to bed! 🙂

For those of us who thinks it’s all in fun, here are some interesting facts:

The word “friggatriskaidekaphobe” has its origins in Nordic mythology and ancient Greek. Frigga, queen of the Nordic gods and the wife of Odin, is the origin of the word “Friday,” and “triskaideka” in ancient Greek means “thirteen.”

Why is the number thirteen singled out as an unlucky number? According to Joe Nickell, a Senior Research Fellow for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), you need to understand the history of the number 12 first. “The number twelve has traditionally represented completeness in mythologies and religions around the world,” he says. “There are twelve months in the year, twelve chief gods of Olympus, twelve signs of the zodiac and twelve apostles of Jesus. Thirteen exists just one digit beyond twelve and is symbolic of the first departure from divine completeness or the initial step towards evil.”

Real Journalists Believe in Narnia
In other news, have you heard that several respected news sites, including Forbes.com, recently picked up a story about the state of Narnia walking out of the World Trade Organization talks in Hong Kong? I think it’s a hoot and shows a very genre-coloured glasses way of looking at the world to think that Narnia is a real place that can be discussed in real-world news.

The bogus story apparently originated somewhere in China and ended up, after bouncing around the world a bit, on the AFX, a financial news agency. The story even went so far as to quote Narnia spokeswoman Susan Aslan — Aslan being the name of the Christ-like lion in the C.S. Lewis stories — as saying “we’re tired of bullying by EU and US delegations” and that they “would be returning immediately to their state capital of Cair Parvel.”

Travel in Time 50,000 Years
OK, you can’t personally time travel, as yet, but your message can. KEO, a satellite set to launch on a journey into space in 2007 and return to Earth in 50,000 years, is accepting messages to carry with it. What would you like to say to your descendants, assuming you’ll have any, that far in the future? For more information, go to www.keo.org.

Share your travels!

About the author

As The Genre Traveler, Carma Spence loves to view the world through Genre-Coloured glasses. In other words, she sees the world through a lens of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, where trash cans can be Daleks in disguise and neighborhood forests can harbor faeries and sprites. Magic realism is real! Or at least you can choose to see the world that way to add to the fun and awe of life.