Friday the 13th

Today is Friday the 13th. It is called “A bad luck day”, in the world. Many paraskevidekatriaphobes, people who fear Friday the 13th, might not want to do anything new, different from the usual or to make a big decision, because they think that Friday the 13th has a power to make them unhappy.

In Japan, we have a famous fortune for the day called “Rokuyo(六曜).”It is often written on calendars. The Rokuyo consists of 6 kinds of fortunes: “Sensho or Senkachi(先勝)”, “Tomobiki(友引)”, “Senbu or Senmake(先負)”, “Butsumetsu(仏滅)”, “Taian or Daian(大安)”, “Shakku or Shakkou(赤口).” Each fortune has a different meaning. Many Japanese care about the Rokuyo when they arrange a date of a big event, such as a wedding ceremony, moving, a funeral or when they make a deal.

Weddings and funerals are very important dates in Japan. Many Japanese want to hold their wedding parties on a day of Taian, when they trust the best day to do everything. So, on Saturday and Sunday of the Taian day, wedding centers are fully booked up. On the contrary, on a day of Butsumetsu, people can hold a wedding much cheaper than usual since the day is believed to be an unlucky day. By the same token, we avoid having a funeral on a Tomobiki day. Tomobiki is trusted as a day where the same things will happen to their friends. In Japanese, Tomo(友) means a friend and biki(引) means dragging or pulling. We know it’s a superstition but just in case Japanese don’t have a funeral on Tomobiki day; if a friend will die after the funeral…no way!

In the world, there must be many evil days like Friday the 13th and Butsumetsu. We know those are superstitions but some of us can’t stop caring about them. However, we can’t do anything if we trust every bad luck day all around the world. So, I think that we creatively use those kinds of fortunes or superstitions as we like. We care about them when we can, and we try to forget about them when we can’t, like fortune telling.

In my case, I only care about them when I have to sign a very important contract or moving, visiting my ancestors’ grave — I try to sign a contract or moving on Taian day, and not to visit the grave on Butsumetsu day. Then, maybe I just want to use them as an excuse for when some bad things happen to me. I think there are many people in the world who have the same thinking like mine; we usually to try to find a cause of our mistakes or our bad situations outside of ourselves.

When a really bad thing will happen to me, maybe I can’t accept the truth at that moment because I might be too upset. I will be helped by thinking things like “What’s happened with me? I didn’t do anything wrong. I was OK. Maybe I was unlucky or that day just wasn’t my day!” From the beginning, I can’t think that a part of my attitude or behavior makes the cause of my bad situation, even though they made it. Yet, as time ticks away, I can find and acknowledge the real cause. Facing up to the fact is not the only way to recognize the current situation. Sometimes, escaping from reality and taking time out to get a grip on ourselves mentally help people to know the cause of the failure. It’s never too late, if I can know why the things happened and what the cause of that was, and I will make use of them next time.

Nobody is perfect. We can’t accept our weakness and faults at all times. Sometimes we want to refuse to face the reality, even though we admit our own faults. At such times, we need an excuse — “I made a mistake because today is a Butsumetsu day.” “Yesterday was Friday the 13th, that’s why I lost my cell phone. Not because I was drunk!” Depending on the situation, the evil days become an excuse to escape from a reality that is too tough, but it smells a bit fishy.

By some definition, it is strange that I can feel like Friday the 13th and Butsumetsu are lovely days. I noticed just now, today is Friday the 13th and also a Butsumetsu day… eeeeeeeeek!