Why Friday the 13th? Well as most triskaidekaphobics. might tell you, "It's a scary day man. You know like black cats and all that." Truth be known, it was scarier than you might want to imagine. The term Tres... (it's too long a word to type twice), is Greek and of modern coinage (20th century), however, the superstitions attached to the number 13 are purely Roman. That's not entirely true, either, since the source of most Roman superstition were Etruscan in origin. The Etruscans left almost no written history of their culture, what is left for us is to divine comes from the Romans. Why 13? It's the result of the confusion for when, and on which days, business could be transacted (Fastus), and those days for when business was officially and religiously proscribed (Nefastus). It was important to know because debts and interest were due on the Idus (Etruscan for middle or division of the lunar month...full moon). Originally, the Idus, or Ides, (calculating from the earliest traditional calendar) was the middle of the lunar month, i.e., the 15th. The 15th was neither Fastus or Nefastus, it was "Nefastus Feriae Publicae" that is, there were no legal or assembly meetings, but debts had to be paid nonetheless. The problem for debtors was that there were several adjustments to the calendar before the Julian adjustment, c. 45 B.C. (A.U.C. 711), In the fifth century B.C., Numa lengthened the year and added two months. He, also, changed the Idus to the 13th, for those months which had been given 31 days: March Martius), May (Maius), July (Quintilis) and October (although leaving the monthly numerical designations that had existed with the previous calendar of ten months). For the remaining eight months, the Idus remained as it had traditionally been on the 15th. So, for eight months out of the year, debts were due on the 13th, but there was another problem, the religious holidays remained the same and the 13th was a dies Endotercisus, which meant that there was no work in the morning or evening: business could only be transacted during mid day. For a debtor, it was important to have paid up your debts on that day. The consequences of not fulfilling your pecuniary obligation were too horrendous to contemplate. The penalties included, being shackled, sold into slavery, having your property confiscated and, most hideous: being bound to a stake while your credtors carved off pieces of your flesh and limbs (called "Parting") until they balanced a scale in the amount of the monetary unit one owed.. Hence the expression, "Taking one's pound of flesh." If all this has confused you, you should understand that for the Romans it was, equally, confusing: however, for the debtor the consequences were too unthinkable to slip up on the date. Our current superstition is a mix of the Roman anxiety over due debts and the Christian belief that Christ was crucified on a Friday. For the Romans, dies Veneris (Friday), was a particularly fortunate and propitious day unless, of course the Idus (13th or 15th) fell on that day. Actually, there is almost as much reason to shudder at the thought of Friday the 15th as the 13th The most famous historical and literary reference to the Idus comes to us from Plutarch, who cites two meetings between Julius Caesar and the astrologer, Spurinna. In the morning Spurinna warned Caesar that the Idus (15 March 44), was not a propitious day for him and was fraught with danger. However, should he manage to get through the day all the signs were good for him. At first, Caesar listened to him, but then he was convinced by friends to go to the Pompey theater, where the Senate was meeting in the temple of Venus. On his way to his rendezvous with destiny, he again met up with Spurinna. Caesar then told the astrologer "The Ides of March are come." Spurinna answered, "Yes, they are come, but they are not past." Shakespeare gave us the line, "Beware the Ides of March." and, in the same play, another immortal line, "Et tu Brute," and even further, when Anthony is stirring up the mob; pointing to the wounds on Caesar's body and referring to a wound that he indicated came from "Caesar's Angel," Marcus Brutus, "This was the most unkindest cut of all." Why the "unkindest cut"? Because Shakespeare had obviously read Appian and had known that Marcus Brutus was Caesar's bastard son. Poor Brutus, he couldn't take all the ribbing and jokes about his paternity so he decided to show everyone that he was really one of the guys. True! Speaking of "Swan Songs"....., I did mention Swan Songs in here, didn't I? Oh well, why Swan Song? I know because I cheated, I read Plato's "Phaedo," Socrates discussing his approaching death makes a comparison between himself and a swan: "Because when these birds feel that the time has come for them to die, they sing more loudly and sweetly than they have ever sung in their lives before, for joy that they are going into the presence of the god whose servants they are (Apollo)". ....."I believe that swans belonging as they do to Apollo, have prophetic powers and sing because they know the good things that await them in the unseen world: and are happier on that day than they have ever been before." Now, knowing that, don't you just feel miserable? For those J alumni who were also Columbia undergraduates and were around during the days of Moon Dog, NROTC marches, the old Westend Bar, Archie Roberts (now Dr. Roberts), Grayson Kirk and a few other people, places and things of that era, I wonder do any of you remember Barnard Religion Professor, Theodore Gaster? If you happen to remember what his bent was, then, you know who to blame for this stuff that seems to continually pours out of me Szia , From Budapest LP (05.13.05)