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Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Liz Wade
and I'm Joshua Leo. Spotlight uses a

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special English method of broadcasting. It
is easier for people to understand no matter

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where in the world they live,
Friday the thirteenth? Are you frightened when

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I say these words? If the
words Friday the thirteenth frighten you, you

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are like millions of other people.
They share the same fear. They believe

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that Friday the thirteenth is an extremely
unlucky and even dangerous day. But is

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Friday the thirteenth and unlucky day?
Is something bad more likely to happen to

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a person on Friday the thirteenth.
Today's spotlight is on Friday the thirteenth.

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Many years ago, humans needed a
way to organize time. They made a

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system of days, weeks, months, and years. In Western cultures,

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there are twelve months in a year, and there are about thirty days in

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each month. Each week has seven
days. About two times every year,

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the thirteenth day of the month will
be a Friday. Some people say that

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each Friday the thirteenth is very unlucky. They fear this day. Fear of

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Friday the thirteenth is mostly a Western
tradition. It is even a part of

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popular culture. For example, there
are some horror films called Friday the thirteenth.

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They are very violent and frightening.
Many people watch them because they enjoy

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being frightened. In some of these
movies, the violence begins on the day

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Friday the thirteenth. Where does this
fear come from? Experts believe that the

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fear of Friday the thirteenth comes from
two separate fears that come together. They

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are the fear of the number thirteen
and the fear of the day Friday.

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Many people believe each separate thing is
already unlucky, but when you combine them,

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they are even more unlucky. There
are many stories about where the fear

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of Friday the thirteenth came from.
Donald Ducie is a folklore historian. He

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studies ancient stories from many different cultures. Ducie tells National Geographic Magazine about the

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beginning of the fear of the number
thirteen. He says, the first writing

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about the fear of the number thirteen
comes from an ancient Norse story. Adam

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Novice tells this story. The great
hero Balder was having a special party.

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There were twelve people at the party. Then Loki came to the party.

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He had not been invited. When
he came, there were thirteen people.

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Loki liked to play tricks. He
told another person to shoot an arrow at

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Balder. Balder died and the whole
earth got dark. The whole earth mourned.

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It was a bad, unlucky day. In some traditions, people refuse

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to serve a meal to exactly thirteen
people. They believe it is very bad

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luck. In France, there used
to be people called fourteeners. People having

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a dinner party did not want to
have thirteen guests, so they would invite

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one more person to be at the
table, a fourteen er. Some people

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also believe the number thirteen is bad
because of a story from the Christian Bible.

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Thirteen was the number of people at
jesus last meal before he died.

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His follower Judas, was the thirteenth
person to arrive at the meal. Judas

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was the one who betrayed Jesus.
These things made people mistrust the number thirteen.

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Many high rise apartment buildings and hotels
do not even have a thirteenth floor.

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Most of these buildings go from floor
twelve to floor fourteen, or they

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use a different letter or number for
the thirteenth floor. Many airports also do

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not have a thirteenth gate. Hospitals
and hotels often have no room number thirteen.

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But this fear of the number thirteen
is only one half of the fear

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of Friday the thirteenth. The other
half of fearing Friday the thirteenth is a

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fear of the day Friday. The
fear of Friday also comes from stories in

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history. Jesus was killed on a
Friday. In the Christian Bible and in

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other religious books, there is a
story of a great flood that destroyed the

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earth. Some people say the flood
rains started on Friday long ago. Some

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people refused to start new projects on
a Friday because of these stories. Sailors

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were especially worried about Fridays. They
would often refuse to set sail on a

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Friday. Rina Dam tells an old
story about sailors and Friday the thirteenth.

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The British Navy wanted to stop sailor's
fear of Friday. They wanted to show

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them there was nothing to be worried
about, so they planned a new trip.

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They chose the sailors on a Friday. They launched the ship on a

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Friday. They named the ship the
h M. S. Friday. They

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even chose a man, aimed James
Friday, to lead the trip as the

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captain. Then one Friday morning,
the ship set sail for its first trip.

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It was never seen or heard from
again. No one knows if this

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story is true or not, but
it may have made people even more afraid

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to do important things on a Friday. Even today. Fear of Friday the

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thirteenth is common in Western cultures.
Some research shows that more people go to

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the hospital on Friday the thirteenth.
Some people refuse to even go to work.

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Some people try not to plan an
important event like a wedding for Friday

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the thirteenth. Donald Dawcie estimates that
businesses lose about eight hundred million dollars each

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Friday the thirteenth. People will not
fly on an airplane on Friday the thirteenth.

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They do not do all the business
they would normally do. Many of

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these people may not even know the
stories about the history of Friday the thirteenth.

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They have a superstitious fear of the
day, That is, they fear

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it for no good reason. Superstitious
fears are common in many cultures around the

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world, but they can be very
unhealthy. They may stop people from living

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normal lives because they are so afraid. But people do not need to be

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afraid. Richard Weissman is a psychologist
from the University of Herefordshire. He has

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some wise words for people who fear
Friday the thirteenth. People need to remember

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that they can create much of their
own good and bad luck, and they

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should concentrate on being lucky. By, for example, looking at the positive

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events in their lives, they can
remember all the good things that have happened,

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and most of all, they can
be prepared to take control of their

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future. It is true that bad
things can happen on Friday the thirteenth,

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but bad things can happen every day, and so can good things. Christians

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believe that the world is ordered by
a loving God, not by luck.

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They know that they do not have
to be afraid, not even on Friday

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the thirteenth. The writer of this
program was Sarah DeCosta. The producer was

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Liz Wade. The voices you heard
were from the United States. All quotes

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were adapted for this program and voiced
by Spotlight. You can listen to this

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program again and read it on the
internet at www dot Radio English dot net.

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This program is called Friday the thirteenth. You can also leave your comments

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on our website or you can email
us at radio at radio English dot net.

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We hope you can join us again
for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,