The curse of No. 13 proved to be no problem for the MilwaukeeBrewers Monday night as they rallied to beat the White Sox 5-4 fortheir 13th straight victory this season.
The amazing feat really impressed Harold Scheub, a folkloreexpert at the University of Wisconsin. By going for 13 straightwins "the Brewers went dangerously beyond the borders," he said,explaining the team was in double jeopardy by having to overcome thenumber 13 and the White Sox.
"The Romans believed the number was a harbinger of death andmisfortune," Scheub said. "It's not clear why they thought that, butsome folklorists surmise the number 13 is one more than 12, thenumber of completeness: the year consists of 12 months, day and nightof 12 hours each and so on."
As with so many folk beliefs, 13 was unlucky long before theRoman era, Scheub said. "In Norse mythology, Loki, the divinetrickster, was the 13th guest at an annual feast. At that particulardinner, he caused the death of Baldur the Beautiful, the embodimentof joy and gladness. When that death was announced, it signified thestart of winter."
Scheub also said tarot card readers have a friendlyinterpretation of the number. "The 13 card does represent death, askeleton with a scythe mowing a field of human heads," Scheub said."And that certainly applied to the Brewers."
No comments:
Post a Comment