About the Baker’s Dozen and other tales

Review of the 13th ABS “Heurigen” Evening on Friday, 23 June 2023, at the Buschenschank Wolff.

By Wolfgang Geissler

At least on TV, any successful, long-running series has this “Previously on….” So why not the successful and long-running ABS “Heurigen” Evening? Therefore, let’s start with the following:

Previously on ABS “Heurigen” Evening 1 July 2022….

…However, the Austro-British Society sets different standards. 12 is a perfect number for us because it refers to the 12^th ABS-Heurigen Evening at the Buschenschank Wolff in Neustift am Walde. The sun shone from a deep blue sky. The temperature was in the middle thirties with a blustery and refreshing westerly wind, only later causing the temperature to drop significantly, which could not dampen the general happy mood. Therefore, Number 12 should rightly be known as an abundant number because there was an abundance of bonhomie, friendship and good humour alongside good food and wine.

The ABS-Heurigen Evening is one of those enigmatic mysteries which even our President, Prof Dr Kurt Tiroch, could never explain. Nothing is free, and nothing is provided, not even a presidential speech. The members and guests need to pay for their consumption, and still, they turn out in record numbers. If you missed it last night, you again missed something special.

Next year I shall hopefully tell you about the “Baker’s Dozen”. (These were my last words on the Review of the 2022 12^th ABS “Heurigen” Evening.)

And I shall do this now because we have made it into the next year and write the 23 June 2023, so keep reading.

A baker’s dozen is 13, one more than a standard dozen. The term has meant different things over the last few centuries. The most widely accepted theory as to why a baker’s dozen became 13 has to do with avoiding a beating. In medieval England, there were laws that related the price of bread to the cost of the wheat used to make it. Bakers who were “cheating” their customers by overpricing undersized loaves could be fined, pilloried or flogged. To avoid such punishments, bakers would give an extra loaf for every dozen purchased so that, even if some were underweight, the baker would still be selling the correct amount of bread.

But why is 13 unlucky?

The number 13 is synonymous with bad luck. It’s considered unlucky to have 13 guests at a dinner party, many buildings don’t have a 13th floor, and most people avoid getting married or buying a house on a day marked by this dreaded number.

But why is 13 unlucky? And is there any statistical proof to support the superstition?

“No data exists, and will never exist, to confirm that the number 13 is an unlucky number,” said Igor Radun of the Human Factors and Safety Behaviour Group at the University of Helsinki’s Institute of Behavioural Sciences in Finland. “There is no reason to believe that any number would be lucky or unlucky.” Really?

Well, judge for yourself. The days preceding the 13^th ABS Heurigen Evening were stifling hot. The ORF-Weather Forecast for the day in question oracled of strong cooling Westwinds with temperatures dropping below 30 degrees but still sunny and fantasised that the likelihood for rain was very remote.

In driving rain and thunderclaps, I made my way to the Buschenschank Wolff in Neustift am Walde. Happy, but still in driving rain, I left about three hours later.

Still, it could and would not dampen the general happy mood amongst those members who braved the elements. As I wrote last year and undoubtedly will write next year, the ABS-Heurigen Evening is one of those enigmatic mysteries that even our President, Prof Dr Kurt Tiroch, could never explain. Nothing is free, and nothing is provided, not even a presidential speech. The members and guests need to pay for their consumption, and still, they turn out in record numbers. If you missed it last night because of the weather, you again missed something special.

Next year I shall hopefully tell you about the number 14 because 14 represents the meaning of new beginnings and positive change in numerology. So hang on for an explanation until 2024. I see you then!

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