Tea Leaves LA

Happy Friday the 13th! You’ll be pleased to now that this is the first of THREE Friday the 13ths this year, occurring exactly 13 weeks apart. Though there are often three Friday the 13ths in a year, this year is particularly rare because it’s a leap year. A year like this won’t occur again until 2040.

And if that isn’t enough rare superstition for you, keep in mind that it’s also 2012, the Year of Impending Mayan Doom. Yay! Bad luck for everyone!

The origin of this unlucky day and number is appropriately shrouded in mystery (because most of the stories you’ve heard are complete fabrications). Many claim superstitions about the number 13 date back to Babylonian times, so we’ll start there.

The Code of Hammurabi allegedly omits the 13th law because Babylonians believed the number brought bad luck. This is absolutely untrue. The original manuscript contained no numbers, and it was actually the 1910 translation by L.W. King that omitted the 13th law. Other translations, such as Robert F. Harper’s, include the number 13.

Another popular myth is that the superstition dates back to Norse mythology. It is said that when the mischievous god Loki showed up uninvited to a dinner, making him the 13th guest, one of Odin’s sons, Baldr, was accidentally killed. I skimmed the Prose Edda this morning, specifically the tale of Baldr’s death and while Loki does crash the dinner party, there is no mention of the number of guests in attendance.

And that brings us to the Christian/Biblical ties to Friday the 13th. Everyone knows there were 13th guests at the Last Supper, which is why Judas betrayed Jesus. There are also claims that biblical tragedies often occurred on Friday. Eve gave Adam the apple on a Friday, the Great Flood began on a Friday, and Jesus was executed on a Friday. If anyone can find actual historical evidence to support any of these Friday claims, I will buy you an army of unicorns (standard shipping rates apply).

Fast forward to 1906. A Boston businessman and author named Thomas W. Lawson published a book in serial form that became surprisingly popular. Friday, the Thirteenth tells the story of a greedy stock broker who sends Wall Street into a panicked financial frenzy on a Friday the 13th in 1907. Lawson’s serial novel is the actual origin of our modern superstitions about this date. Many academics agree that attempts to root the superstition in ancient times began after this novel was well-known.

As the father of Friday the 13th, Lawson wasn’t exempt from the bad luck surrounding the date. In 1907, a schooner named after him sank on Friday the 13th, the same date he modeled his novel around.

Quite a coincidence, right? It’s up to you to decide which superstitions to believe and which ones to ignore. So I wish you all a safe Friday the 13th, and keep an eye out for black cats, ladders, and deranged killers in hockey masks.

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by Kate

See what I did there with the title? Clever…

The horrific rainstorm that has plagued LA for the past week dashed my dreams of seeing last night’s lunar eclipse. While I was sitting inside my apartment, silently cursing the rain clouds, I began to wonder why people lose their minds for eclipses anyway. In the most basic sense, it’s just a shadow puppet show on an enormous scale. After I watched the lovely time lapsed eclipse video embedded below, I found myself to be a bit underwhelmed. What’s the big deal? Is this frenzied eclipse excitement left over from ancient times when people had no idea what eclipses were?

Maybe. After some quick research, I discovered that I prefer the Eastern and Native American lunar eclipse myths to the actual scientific explanation. If I thought a heavenly wolf named Skoll eternally chases the moon and sometimes succeeds in catching it (resulting in an eclipse), maybe I could muster up more excitement.

Skoll the wolf who shall scare the Moon
Till he flies to the Wood-of-Woe:
Hati the wolf, Hridvitnir’s kin,
Who shall pursue the Sun.
              Grimnismal, The Elder Edda

Many myths involve a sacred animal or god swallowing the moon. The Mayans believed it was a jaguar, who also possessed the power to fly down to earth and devour people during a lunar eclipse. The Mongols believe a dragon swallows the moon, and they see the eclipse as a bad omen.

The Serrano Indians of California think the spirits of the dead are trying to eat the moon. They perform rituals to drive the restless spirits away and fast for a short period before the eclipse in an attempt to starve the spirits.

Some Chinese traditions say a three-legged toad who resides in the moon occasionally swallows it. It is the people’s responsibility to coax the moon out of the toad’s belly by beating on mirrors.

Although I know there aren’t enormous creatures preying on celestial bodies, it would make it easier for me to stand outside and watch as the moon passes into the earth’s shadow if I thought an enormous dragon was trying to steal my moon. That’s much more intriguing than reading about orbits and lunar nodes.

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