Friday the 13th...!

Hi friends,

I am sure you all must have realized that today is Friday the 13rth, an unlucky day according to those who believe in this. There have been countless movies made on the premise of Friday the 13th. I for one, certainly don't believe in superstitions. I know there are loads of them out there, like...

* Don't walk under a ladder
* Don't let a black cat cross your path
* If you spill salt, you have got to toss it over your soulder to prevent bad luck
* If you break a mirror, it's seven years of bad luck

...and these are the more common ones. I remember other sily stuff as well. One time on our class outdoor trip, we were spending the night out at the beach. There were a group of girls, who being daring, went into the girls toilet, with torches and all; it was lights out anyways. They were in there, to say the name of Bloody Mary in the mirror. The guys and the other girls were watching from the tents, and suddenly, we hear loud screams, and one of the girls come running out of the bathroom, totally scared! We all knew they did not do anything in there.

There was another craze that went around, based on the movie The CandyMan. It became a trend to say the name, Candyman, in your bathroom mirror 5 times for him to appear. I would only go up to four. There was always this sense of fear, and a sense of 'what if it were really true' I was a kids back then.

However, this idea of supserstition exists heavily, even here in this part of the world. The hotels here, I can tell you, don't include the 13th floor. They go straight from 12 to 14. In Sharjah. Can you believe that? I still have some people tell to not do this or that because it will bring bad luck. The concept of the Evil Eye is extremely strong here. People buy and carry the blue colored 'eye' shaped pendant to ward off the Evil Eye.

However, the history of Friday the 13th dates back to pagan Christianity, and some sources take it even further back to the Norse gods, who named the day Friday after one of their gods. The Norse gods, actually claimed Friday to be their blessed day. Whatever it is, I certinaly don't believe in it because none of the claims are based in fact or proven theory. They are all speculation and traditonal stories.

Having said that, the most depressing time for me in the week is Friday evening, when I know I have to get up early the next day and go to work! The best time for me is Wednesday evening, when I know its weekend time!

Mansur