What do Druids do on Friday the 13th?
Last time this date came around, someone landed on my blog by googling just this question. I doubt they found much to help them, but, recognising that someone wanted an answer, I thought today would be a good time to wheel one out.
The short take would be: Nothing different. (For most of us)
There are important reasons for this though, and they merit exploring. Firstly, the Friday the thirteenth superstition I believe to be Christian in origin, having to do with Judas being the 13th (Jesus plus 11 nice guys) Good Friday being the day of crucifixion, and another strand to do with the persecution, torture and execution of the Knights Templar. I will happily admit to being hazy about all of this – it’s not my tradition, it’s not part of my sense of how the world works so I feel entirely comfortable knowing very little.
The thing is, that Friday the 13th is one of those many, many things that exists only because humans have all agreed to believe it does. As a Druid, I am more interested by what happens in nature, and by things that are discernibly real. If humans were all wiped out tomorrow, there would still be day and night. There would still be seasons, equinoxes, solstices, there would be full moons and dark moons. None of that depends on our noticing it.
Weeks do not exist without people. They are an arbitrary system for dividing up time into manageable units. They may be very old, but if we went, they would cease to exist. So, the idea that one day of the week could be more or less lucky than others, only works if you believe that arbitrary human systems are magically meaningful. I don’t.
Months have a loose relationship with the real cycle of the moon, but it’s too loose to be helpful. Again, these are human ways of cutting up the year into useful sections that help us keep track of what we are doing and manage our relationship with time and the seasons. Months are not real in any sense that they would exist without us either. Therefore the day of the month is just another human construct, signifying little. And if you’re a pagan, and you know that the coven is supposed to have 13 in it, you might not think of 13 as an unlucky number at all, but as a pagan-friendly sort of number.
Years are human inventions too – at least, the dating of years. We count from the year when a chap might or might not have been born in Bethlehem, and we stick with it because it’s what we’ve got. Without humanity, this would not be 2012, it would just be another journey of the earth around the sun.
So, I am taking no more precaution against ill fortune today than I would on any other day. I am not anticipating any more trouble than usual, and based on observation to date, the ebb and flow of fortune in my life has nothing to do with calendar dates. I don’t know enough astrology to know if the movement of planets has ever had any relevance to what’s happening to me. Generally, what is going on keeps me busy enough. My personal belief is that shit happens. Sometimes we bring it upon ourselves. Often we make our own luck. Just occasionally it feels like there are other hands pulling the strings.
Looking forward to hearing everyone else’s take now….
