Ah, numbers and superstitions.
An area we are familiar with, although you might not think about it on any sort of analytical level. With the slightest spotlight, it doesn’t make much sense; why do many Western cultures consider 13 unlucky and just what is it about the number four that China can’t abide by?
Especially when you consider that numbers are just that; neutral entities, a way of counting and measuring, surely not things associated with heavy emotions. And the superstitions attached to the numbers often have far-flung historical or cultural explanations (if they have satisfactory explanations at all).
If science has moved us out of the darkness of misunderstanding in so many areas, why not when it comes to superstitions?
It is so very human of us to paste stories over neutrality.
And while we may know, on a logical level, that it doesn’t make sense to avoid the number 13, favour odds over evens or have a “favourite” number, most of us still do it.
We can’t deny the power of human superstition, especially in the face of facts.
Many high-rise buildings in the West skip the 13th floor entirely. Many in China do the same with the 4th floor; I’ve even seen one that skipped every 10 floors ending with the number 4! And every time a Friday the 13th arrives, the US economy loses hundreds of millions of dollars in lost trading, as people hedge and hold their money to swerve this dodgy day. So, let’s take a tour around some possible reasons for this.
Starting with 13, the most well known. Theories abound. There is an idea that the number 12 is “complete”; equal, well-balanced, divisible by 2, 3, 4 and 6, representing 12 months, 12 zodiac signs, and in the Christian tradition, 12 apostles. By contrast, then, 13 is incomplete, extra, odd. It’s 12 but corrupted and left hanging.
Continuing the Christianity connection, 13 is the number of Judas, the betrayer of Jesus. He was the 13th guest at the Last Supper, and the negativity around 13 could stem from there. Just as religious but a little more rock and roll, the superstition could come from Norse mythology, where a 13th guest to a party of 12 gods led to the death of one of them, and widespread Viking-style destruction.
Clearly, these fanciful stories don’t explain any tangible reason for the misfortune around the number 13. They prove an opposing point; humans love a story, even when unencumbered by any hard fact. Spare a thought for those born on the 13th of a month, especially a Friday!
So, what about something a little closer to our adopted home?
The Chinese aversion to 4 is well documented; the pronunciation for “four” (四; si4), is too close to “death” (死, si3). This, at least, has a more solid explanation. Homophones form a huge part of the Chinese language, so it makes sense that they hold influence on its culture too. The “four” belief is widespread; aside from the floor numbering, you are unlikely to see 4 used in any company advertising or contact numbers. You will recall, I would bet, seeing a different number over-represented in phone numbering; 8.
Eight holds the privilege of being the “luckiest” Chinese number, again thanks to a (near) homophone. Eight in Mandarin is pronounced “八” (ba1), which rhymes with “发” (fa1), as in “发财” (fa1 cai2), meaning “to get rich”.
Companies fall over themselves to secure a contact number with as many eights as possible, car registration plates with eights can fetch a premium, and the hand gesture for the number eight is associated with positivity and happiness when posing.
Other numbers in Chinese pick up associations for similar reasons. Nine in Mandarin sounds like the word for “long” (久; jiu3) and so 9 often represents longevity. Wishing for longevity (and having the resources to build for it!) explains why there are 9,999 rooms in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
What about elsewhere? Italy has a superstition with at least a viable explanation. Some Italians are superstitious about the number 17 because rearranging the Roman numeral XVII can create the word “VIXI”. This in turn can be translated to mean, “I lived”, or, “My life is over” (more on four letter Latin words later).
Clearly, then, this worldwide trend is as much a part of the human experience as anything more evidence based.
The sticking power of these beliefs, despite the clear lack of fact behind them, tells us that humans love to assign meaning to the meaningless, to paint over arbitrary events with an overall “pattern”.
But what is “meaningless” in this context? Don’t we make meaning by what we do, what we choose to focus on, what we privilege or leave out? Throughout this article I have been grouping ideas in threes. Some of the time I don’t even realise I’m doing it; it’s become an ingrained part of my rhetoric. A well-known trick called the “rule-of-three”; it’s supposed to work by making the information “sticky”, as if it can somehow adhere to the inside of our heads.
It is effective; think of constructs like “Veni, Vidi, Vici” or “blood, sweat and tears”.
But why? We’ve spent time talking about the arbitrary connections between numbers and superstitions, so why would the number three suddenly hold more meaning? It’s because we love patterns. As I explained previously, humans will paint a pattern over most things, to help us make sense of our environments.
And three is the smallest number which can create a pattern. Specifically, the first two parts of the rule of three can build an expectation, an understanding that there is a relationship between these three things. By the time our brain has connected the first two items, we’re ready for the third. It’s satisfying to receive that third thing and confirm our reasoning by connecting it to the first two.
Numbers, superstitions and making meaning out of nothing. Psychology, then, instead of history, lights the way.
