2021 marks 13 years since the doors opened at VA Agency, and what a ride it’s been!
We’ve been getting some strange looks about celebrating being 13 (officially a teenager!) and thought we’d take a look at how and why a number can have such a bad reputation.
Unlucky for some
In Western culture, fear of the number 13 (or triskaidekaphobia to give it’s official name) is nothing new. There were 13 people at The Last Supper, with Judas Iscariot (Jesus’ betrayer) being the thirteenth arrival. Even now it’s not unheard of for people to add a fourteenth chair to their dinner table and put a stuffed toy in the chair to make up the numbers. Each to their own…
It seems 13 guests ruining a dinner party is something of a running theme. In Norse mythology the God of Mischief, Loki, rocked up in Valhalla to a dinner with 12 guests already at the table. His arrival introduced chaos, evil and unhappiness to the world… so draw your own conclusions.
But why 13? Several ancient civilisations believed that 12 was the ‘perfect’ number – “generally representing perfection, entirety, or cosmic order in traditions since antiquity” [Wikipedia]. Think the 12 Olympian Gods or the 12 Labours of Hercules in Ancient Greece, the Twelve Tribes of Israel in Judaism, or the 12 petals of the Heart chakra in Hinduism. If you should attempt to improve on perfection by adding one (hello, 13!), it is believed that your greed will only bring you bad luck.
Flipping the narrative
Given the outstanding grief given to the number 13, you might think that triskaidekophobia is something of a global phenomenon. Au contraire! Whilst in Western culture you’d be hard-pressed to find a 13th floor, Room 13 or Row 13 in buildings, hotels and planes, in South and Southeast Asian culture, it’s the number 4 that is largely avoided, due to the words ‘four’ and ‘death’ sounding the same in Chinese and other similarly-influenced languages.
In Europe, before the First World War, 13 was traditionally considered lucky in France, and was widely used as a good luck symbol. In Italy, it’s the lucky number in the football pools – to fare tredici (‘to make thirteen’) means to hit the jackpot.
And let’s face it, what could possibly be unlucky about the 13 doughnuts in a baker’s dozen?!
And many more….
Planet Earth in 2021 is a very different place than it was in 2008: if you’d told us back then what life would be like right now, we wouldn’t have believed you. One thing hasn’t changed though, and that’s our dedication to our clients. Our core values on Day 1 were the same as they are today: to deliver excellent service and help you achieve your goals. Whether you’ve been with us since the beginning or are a relative newcomer, we’re thrilled to have you along for the journey. Hip hip, hooray!
Until next time!
Stay productive.