We Latinos are really screwed when it comes to all this stuff about unlucky days. I say this because I can't help but feel a chill down my spine every time the 13th falls on a Tuesday. I've always heard the saying: "Ni te cases, ni te embarques, ni de tu casa te apartes" (don't get married, don't travel, don't leave your house) associated with this unlucky Tuesday. But to top it off, once I moved to the States, bad days grew to include Friday the 13th also.
Because I've always loved to explore all our little cultural nuances, I started investigated the cause of this difference, which is one of many Latinos have with non Latinos in the U.S. Thank God I was sitting down when I found it, because if not I would have fallen off my chair.
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I say all this because this tradition of fearing the number 13 and the difference between Tuesday and Friday comes from very far back.
The superstition of this unlucky day in Hispanic culture is a product of various elements. Tuesday has been marked as fatal since Tuesday May 29, 1453, the day the city of Constantinople fell, a historic even widely considered catastrophic for Hispanic cultures.
The fear of the number 13 also goes way back. Interesting fact: During Jesus Christ's last supper, there were 13 people at the table–Jesus and his 12 apostles, and Judas is the number 13. In the book of Revelations in the Bible, chapter 13 corresponds to the Antichrist and the Beast. There's also a Scandinavian legend that says that during a dinner of the Valhalla gods, Loki, the spirit of evil, was the 13th guest. In Tarot, the number makes reference to death and eternal damnation.
Besides, legend has it that it was a Tuesday the 13th when the confusion of tongues happened at the tower of Babel, when languages got all mixed up.
In Anglo countries, the tradition of considering Friday the 13th as an unlucky day comes from October 13, 1307. That's the date that the Knights Templar were persecuted during the Inquisition, leading to massive arrests in France, mostly in Paris. Many were murdered or sentenced to be hanged in a mass execution.
It's not that I'm superstitious. The truth is that I don't pay much mind to these things. But I think today I'm going to tread more carefully than usual.
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