Some beliefs cling to our tables more stubbornly than food stains on linen. One of them is the old fear of seating thirteen people at dinner. Even today, in different parts of the world, a host might quietly add an extra chair or strike one name off the list, just so the number doesn’t land at thirteen. Where does this unease come from, and why does it still shadow something as simple as sharing a meal? Scroll down to find out. The trail winds back to myths. In Norse legend, twelve gods once gathered for a feast in Valhalla. Loki , the trickster, slipped in as the thirteenth guest. What followed was betrayal and the death of Balder, the radiant god loved by all. Thirteen became a marker of disruption, the guest who shouldn’t have been there. Centuries later, Christian tradition de

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