for centuries people have given importance to number and develope superstition about them
many of these superstition have been passes on through the generations and still exist to day
many of the superstition surrounding numbers have a basis in science and nature
for example early astrologers believed that seven planets governed the universe and therefore the lives of human beings a seventh child was thought to have special gifts
human life was divided into seven ages
every seven year was believed to bring great change
if a person’s date of birth cloud be divided by seven that person’s life would be lucky
for the ancient babilonians three was a lucky number because it symbolized birth life and date
some people still believe that a dream repeated three times comes true
numbers don’t have the same meaning in all cultures
five is considered a most holy and lucky number in Egypt
but in Ghana the ashati people consider five to be and unlucky number
to give someone five of anything is to wish the person evil
the ancient Greeks and Egypt the number four was a perfect number symbolizing unity endurance and balance
however the chaina consider the number four to be unlucky because it sounds like the word for death
the number that seeme to be almost universally considered unlucky is 13
no other number has had such a bad reputation for so long
the ancient romans regered it as a symbol of death destruction and misfortune
one of the earliest written stories about the number 13 appears in norwegain mytology
this stories tells about a feast at Valhalla to wish 12 gods were invited
loki the god of evil came uninvited raising the number to 13
in the struggle to throw out loki balder the favorite of the gods was killed
there are many superstition regarding the number 13
for example in Britain it’s considered a bad omen for 13 people to sit at a table
some say that the personwho rises first will meet with misfortune even death within a year
others say it’s the last person to rise
some british people think it’s unlucky to have 13 people in a room especially for the person closest to the door
the thirteenth day of the month isn’t considered a good day on which to begin any new enterprise including marriage or the set out on a journey
many people belive that the thirteenth is the unluckiest day in the year
this belief is so widespread that there are horror movies called Friday the thirteenth
some people will go to great lengths to avoid the number 13
hotel owners do not usually assign the number 13 to a room preferring to lable it 12a or 14 instead
the frence never issue the house address 13 while in Italy the number 13 is omitted from the national lottery
airlines have no thirteenth row on their planes and office and apartment buildings rare have a thirteenth floor
frome ancient civilization to modern societies the belief in the magic of number has persisted in spite of the advances in science and technology
there is nothing quite as stubborn as superstition
even today in the twenty-first century people still believe in bad luck and omens
in the future people may work in spece station or travel the universe in starships but there probably won’t be starbase 13 or a rocket liftoff on Friday the thirteenth
a seventh voyage will be a good one and the third time around will still be lucky