Tag Archives: Friday the 13th

Dec13

Friday The 13th and Other Superstitions

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Friday The 13th and Other Superstitions

This post isn’t about any Friday the 13th movie. Instead I want to delve into the world of superstition and the idea that bad things happen on Friday the 13th.

I must admit I’ve been rather tentative when it comes to Friday the 13th. I vividly recall Friday February 13th, 1976. Three minutes short of the halfway point from Winnipeg to Denver en route to San Diego, Frontier Airlines turned us back to Winnipeg due to engine trouble. Obviously I missed the connecting flight in Denver.

Then there was Friday November 13th, 2015 in Mazatlan when the ATM thought it would be fun to eat my debit card. Needless to say I don’t use BBVA Bancomer anymore.

All other Friday the 13ths have been proven to be uneventful although today is far from over.

But why the big deal about Friday the 13th? Here’s a few tidbits I gleaned from history.

I’ll begin with a Christian root. Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. He was also the 13th guest at The Last Supper.

Next we turn to Norse mythology. Twelve gods were invited to a banquet. A thirteenth god named Loki (the trickster god) crashed the banquet. This resulted in fighting and death.

We then go to France where King Philip IV decreed that all Knights Templar in his kingdom were to be arrested. These people were viewed as heretics as they denied Christ and worshipped idols. Many were executed and the Church disbanded the group.

Now let’s look at some other superstitions and what some people do to avoid bad things from happening.

Break a mirror lately? That could mean seven years of bad luck.

Don’t walk under a ladder or something bad is sure to happen.

Watch out for that black cat, especially on Friday the 13th.

Throw a pinch of salt over your left shoulder to keep evil at bay.

Remember this one from childhood? Step on a crack and you break your mother’s back.

How about looking for four-leaf clovers for luck? Or carrying around that lucky rabbit’s foot? Walk into any Casino or Bingo game and look around at all the lucky charms people have.

And let’s not forget knocking on wood.

How superstitious are you?

Oct14

Back in AGS 2023

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Back in AGS 2023

A government shutdown was avoided so the air traffic controllers stayed on the job and I arrived as scheduled on Monday in Puerto Vallarta. I dodged Hurricane Lidia by a day and arrived in Aguascalientes by bus at 4 am on Tuesday. Raul, my landlord extraordinaire, picked me up and brought me home where I slept a good part of the day.

With all the craziness going on in the world today, it was comforting to come home to my familiar barrio of Las Flores. I’ve spent the last few days wandering around and renewing acquaintances. My neighbors are the same as last year and my Spanish got a workout. None of them speak English. Everyone remembers me and are very welcoming. I think I bought more stuff at my corner tienda than all the rest of his regular customers combined. I picked up food at a cocina and the lady was quite interested in hearing about my time up north. The lady at the candy store welcomed me back. Yes I’m still addicted to chocolate. I was at a gift shop today picking up a few things. I’m invited to a 5-year-old’s birthday party tomorrow. The lady at the gift shop asked me how my friends in Washington liked the things I’d bought for them when I left in March. And of course my friend Chui still has his potato chip operation only two doors down from where I live.

But yesterday was Friday the 13th and I’m glad that’s over with. I woke up to no internet. Thankfully it reappeared later in the day. But the real fiasco was at Telcel where my chip didn’t work in my new phone. AT&T insists the phone is unlocked and Telcel says it isn’t. So for the time being I’m carrying around two phones until I get it sorted out. A big thank you to Raul for coming with me and translating. The people at Telcel were having problems understanding him and he’s even Mexican. Raul has the patience of a saint as he kept changing the chips from phone to phone. So it appears that I am now using my old phone for Telcel and my new phone for everything else at the moment.

I’m going to end this post on a more somber note. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my family and friends in Israel. Your texts are comforting and greatly appreciated. Here in Mexico planes are being sent to evacuate over 700 Mexicans from Israel. There is no escaping this horrible war. It has affected everyone everywhere. Unfortunately there is no end in sight and all we can do now is continue to pray.