Res Gestae
Wednesday the 17th
Whatever feelings most people have with Friday the 13th, so too is my feeling with the 17th day of every month! Something creepy...!
Nobody could tell when and why human beings first associated the number 13 with misfortune. In fact it is associated with DEATH! It must be the reason why today many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue, and buildings don't have a 13th floor.
Some have proposed that fears surrounding the number 13 are as ancient as the act of counting. Primitive man had only his 10 fingers and two feet to represent units, this explanation goes, so he could count no higher than 12. What lay beyond that -- 13 -- was an impenetrable mystery to our prehistoric forebears, hence an object of superstition.
David Emery wrote in his article "Urban Legends and Folklore", "Some say Friday's bad reputation goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. It was on a Friday, supposedly, that Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit. Adam bit, as we all learned in Sunday School, and they were both ejected from Paradise. Tradition also holds that the Great Flood began on a Friday; God tongue-tied the builders of the Tower of Babel on a Friday; the Temple of Solomon was destroyed on a Friday; and, of course, Friday was the day of the week on which Christ was crucified. It is therefore a day of penance for Christians."
Knowing all these, I still never associate Friday the 13th to bad luck or misfortune. I would prefer to side with the Chinese who regarded the number lucky! I remember my college teacher who once shared in one of her sessions with my class that her family has 13 as their lucky number. It is so because they dedicate their family to Saint Anthony of Padua whose feast day is the 13th of June. Interestingly, my daughter's name has 13 letters. Had our baby Janna Ysabelle born in June last year, we would have her dedicated to St Anthony and have her baptized on his feast day. It was our solemn promise. Baby Jay, however, came on July 22 and we couldn't stand waiting for 11 months before she earned her mark as a child of God. We have her christened last December 3.
Well, whatever superstition there is, let's settle to the contention that Friday the 13th is but a mystery.
However, unlike Friday the 13th, the 17th day of the month has a history that most of us know well. It has a story that each one of us can clearly recount and agree with. For us, Ilonggos, the 17th day of the month has never been the same as it was last year and the years before that. It is now a day that reminds us of that fateful Wednesday, when utter defiance of the law and order, and grave insult to the symbol of our democratic institution -- the Provincial Capitol - etched in our memory the horror that resounds month after month.
"Wednesday the 17th" could be regarded as Day of Defiance. And, history cannot lie. Tupases made that day as such like no one did in history. Two days from now is March 17. Though it would be a Saturday, yet I cannot overcome the feeling - so disturbing - that something will happen!
Yes, Saturday ends Governor Tupas' TRO. And, the mere thought of it is already scary. Will history repeat itself? Ohh... it is 17th!
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