Thirteen people should never be seated at the same table, according to an old superstition. This article discusses to possible origins to the superstition.
The Thirteen Superstition
Every one knows that if thirteen persons dine at one table, one of these persons is supposed to die before the year is finished, but few know the origin of the superstition.
This superstition prevails among all nations. The Turks have struck the number thirteen from their vocabulary. Italians never use it in making up numbers for lotteries, and in one of their games, the card which bears thirteen pictures death. No house in Paris bears the number thirteen.
The origin of the superstition has been traced to old Norse mythology. The story is that the Gods sat down to a feast. Baldur was the thirteenth to come to the table; so he had to die.
Another popularly accepted theory is that it originated at the Last Supper. Leonardo da Vinci probably three the superstition into ignorant minds when in his famous painting he placed the twelve Apostles at the table with the Master. In this picture Judas is spilling salt; so the salt superstition probably originated in the same way.
Source: University Missourian. (Columbia, Mo.), 04 June 1915.
