In different countries, the same number may have a completely opposite reputation
The belief that certain symbols can influence reality is one of the sides of the so-called magical thinking characteristic of people of bygone eras. It is to this approach to reality that we owe the emergence of numerology - a system of beliefs about the connection between numbers and the fate of a person. Until now, some numbers enjoy bad or good fame around the globe - while others are actively disliked only by representatives of certain peoples.
The third was a fool at all
In Russian fairy tales, for example, the number three is very common. And it, as a rule, bears a positive connotation. The heroes succeed on the third attempt, the main character of a fairy tale is often the third son in the family or the third child who was magically born. The third is always a son: he is either the strongest (the tales "Ivan the Cow's Son", "The Fight on the Kalinov Bridge"), or a "mediocre" fool. However, by the end of the tale, it is the fool who turns out to be the happiest.
The stone at the fork in the road offers the hero three paths. The girl Masha stumbles upon a hut in the forest where three bears live. The stepmother of Kroshechka-Khavroshechka has three daughters - One-Eye, Two-Eye and Triglazka; it is Triglazka who exposes Khavroshechka, who is assisted in her work by a magic cow. And all the most interesting is always in the distant kingdom - that is, one to which you go three times in nine days, that is, one lunar month.
Somewhat less often in fairy tales, another lucky number is found - seven. A goat has seven kids - and it is the seventh that escapes from the wolf ("The Wolf and the Seven Kids"); the old man and the old woman have seven mighty twin sons ("Seven Simeons"), the poor man has a smart seven-year-old daughter who can outwit even the king ("Seven-year-old daughter"). The people also love the number 12: in the folklore plot recorded by Pushkin, which became the basis of "The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Bogatyrs", there are not seven heroes, but 12.
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Six heroes
But the appearance of the number six in a fairy tale usually does not bode well; the six is steadfastly associated among Russian storytellers with trouble, with evil spirits. For example, in the fairy tale "About rejuvenating apples and living water" Ivan Tsarevich meets six heroes - and barely escapes. The heroes fail exactly on the sixth obstacle, the heroes cannot solve six riddles.
According to one version, the number six (like the number four) began to be considered unlucky at the time when the new year in Russia began on September 1. Accordingly, December was the fourth month and February the sixth; It was during these months that strict fasts fell, and those who observed them with fanatical diligence (in some families, even children were not breastfed during the fast!), could pay with their health and loved ones, or even with their lives.
People have long been afraid of the number 666; The Revelation of John the Theologian says that there will come a time when the Beast, stronger and more terrible than the demons of hell, will rule over mankind, that the Antichrist will join the Beast, that the number of the Beast is 666, "the number of man."
No matter how people interpreted the number of the Beast - and the Beast itself! There were calendar versions - so far none have been confirmed. The Antichrist was called Peter I, Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler and, which is absolutely ridiculous, Bill Gates.
Buttons in the elevator: no 13th floor. Photo: Sgerbic / wikimedia.org
Thirteenth floor
The number 13, or the damn dozen, is notorious in many countries. In high-rise buildings, the United States does not even build a thirteenth floor - because who will agree to live on it. But in the Land of the Rising Sun, the Quartet, quite harmless in our culture, has an equally unenviable reputation: the Japanese can easily do without the fourth floors and apartments No. 4. In Japan, they do not like the nine either: they have a hieroglyph for suffering with this number. In China, by the way, the number nine is very much respected - in the Middle Kingdom it symbolizes happiness and "many years."
In Italy, the number 17 is strongly associated with all sorts of misfortunes. This superstition is rooted in antiquity: in Rome, on the graves of patricians, VIXI was written - “I lived”. If we imagine that this inscription consists of Roman numerals, it turns out that the grave inscription is divided into two parts - VI and XI; 6 + 11 is exactly 17 - the number of dust, decay and death.
