Your Lucky Numbers Are...

If you have ever gotten a fortune cookie then you will know that on the back of the fortune they will have a list of lucky numbers. You can read about how 110 people got lucky with their numbers here and the history of the fortune cookie! (Spoiler: they aren't Chinese.)

Even if fortune cookies aren't Chinese, I have found that every culture does believe in lucky numbers and they vary by region. 

In America, you will know that a lucky number is 7 and an unlucky number is 13 and the "devil's number" is 666. 

In China, lucky numbers include 520, 888, and 666 and an unlucky number is 4. 

Wait? 666? The devil's number?

I know right? Why is 666 a bad number in the West and a lucky number in China?

How are any of these numbers lucky or unlucky?

Let's start with America. 

Western lucky numbers have to do with the Old Testament of the Bible. Seven is the number of days that it took God to create the universe, therefore seven must be the most perfect number (Got Questions). 

What I was told when I was in Catholic school is that the number six, the number right below seven, must be the most imperfect number and "un-God like." If it is unlike God, then it must be the devil's number. If you are Christian than you may believe there are three parts to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If the devil wants to mock God then he would chose to use the symbolic three for his number, 666. There is also the fact that the Book of Revelations states that an evil beast will number 666 (Schorn, Joel).

What about 13? There are a lot of theories actually. Since our days are set on a 12 hour system, it is believed 13 would be odd unbalanced, therefore unlucky. 13 also isn't divisible by a single number, making it unbalanced again.  Judas was said to be the 13th guest at the last supper, the man who betrayed Jesus. Similarly, Loki, the god of mischief, was the 13th guest at Valhalla (Maranzani, Barbara). 

For Chinese, the lucky numbers are actually homographs with Chinese words. 

520 in Chinese sounds like "wu er ling." "I love you" in Chinese sounds like "wo ai ni". The reason 520 is lucky is because it sounds like "I love you" in Chinese. If you are ever invited to a Chinese wedding, you may find the number all over the venue. It is also why May 20th is the Chinese Valentine's Day. 

The number four sounds a lot like the Chinese word for death "si" so the number is highly avoided. 

Six sounds like "lucky" and eight sounds like "rich." Nine sounds like "long" so by saying 999 you are wishing someone a long life (Attract China). September 9th is also a day where Chinese people go to visit and honor their elders. 

Putting numbers in threes together is like tripling the good luck. Since four is an unlucky number, you will only see 666 together and not 6666. 

The next time you are buying your lucky numbers at the lottery, maybe you can try Chinese numbers alongside your American numbers. 

  

 Works Cited

Attract China. (2014, November 19). Symbolic Meanings of Chinese Numbers. Retrieved from Attract China Blog: http://www.attractchina.com/symbolic-meanings-chinese-numbers/

Got Questions. (2018). What is the Biblical Significance of the Number 7? Retrieved from Got Questions: https://www.gotquestions.org/number-7-seven.html

Maranzani, B. (2013, September 13). What's so Unlucky About the Number 13? Retrieved from History.com: https://www.history.com/news/whats-so-unlucky-about-the-number-13

Schorn, J. (2013, October). What is 666 in the Bible? Retrieved from U.S. Catholic: https://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201309/what-666-bible-27901