₦airaland Forum

THE NUMBER SEVEN
Article by H. P. Blavatsky
A DEEP significance was attached to numbers in hoary antiquity. There was not a people with anything like philosophy, but gave great prominence to numbers in their application to religious observances, the establishment of festival days, symbols, dogmas, and even the geographical distribution of empires. The mysterious numerical system of Pythagoras was nothing novel when it appeared far earlier than 600 years B.C. The occult meaning of figures and their combinations entered into the meditations of the sages of every people; and the day is not far off when, compelled by the eternal cyclic rotation of events, our now sceptical unbelieving West will have to admit that in that regular periodicity of ever recurring events there is something more than a mere blind chance. Already our Western savants begin to notice it. Of late, they have pricked up their ears and begun speculating upon cycles, numbers and all that which, but a few years ago, they had relegated to oblivion in the old closets of memory, never to be unlocked but for the purpose of grinning at the uncouth and idiotic superstitions of our unscientific fore-fathers.

As one of such novelties, the old, and matter-of-fact German journal Die Gegenwart has a serious and learned article upon "the significance of the number seven" introduced to the readers as a "Culture-historical Essay." After quoting from it a few extracts, we will have something to add to it perhaps. The author says:

The number seven was considered sacred not only by all the cultured nations of antiquity and the East, but was held in the greatest reverence even by the later nations of the West. The astronomical origin of this number is established beyond any doubt. Man, feeling himself time out of mind dependent upon the heavenly powers, ever and everywhere made earth subject to heaven. The largest and brightest of the luminaries thus became in his sight the most important and highest of powers; such were the planets which the whole antiquity numbered as seven. In course of time these were transformed into seven deities. The Egyptians had seven original and higher gods; the Phœnicians seven kabiris; the Persians, seven sacred horses of Mithra; the Parsees, seven angels opposed by seven demons, and seven celestial abodes paralleled by seven lower regions. To represent the more clearly this idea in its concrete form, the seven gods were often represented as one seven-headed deity. The whole heaven was subjected to the seven planets; hence, in nearly all the religious systems we find seven heavens.
The beliefs in the sapta loka of the Brahminical religion has remained faithful to the archaic philosophy; and--who knows--but the idea itself was originated in Aryavarta, this cradle of all philosophies and mother of all subsequent religions! If the Egyptian dogma of the metempsychosis or the transmigration of soul taught that there were seven states of purification and progressive perfection, it is also true that the Buddhists took from the Aryans of India, not from Egypt, their idea of seven stages of progressive development of the disembodied soul, allegorized by the seven stories and umbrellas, gradually diminishing towards the top on their pagodas.

In the mysterious worship of Mithra there were "seven gates," seven altars, seven mysteries. The priests of many Oriental nations were sub-divided into seven degrees; seven steps led to the altars and in the temples burnt candles in seven-branched candlesticks. Several of the Masonic Lodges have, to this day, seven and fourteen steps.

The seven planetary spheres served as a model for state divisions and organizations. China was divided into seven provinces; ancient Persia into seven satrapies. According to the Arabian legend seven angels cool the sun with ice and snow, lest it should burn the earth to cinders; and seven thousand angels wind up and set the sun in motion every morning. The two oldest rivers of the East--the Ganges and the Nile--had each seven mouths. The East had in the antiquity seven principal rivers (the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Oxus, the Yaksart, the Arax and the Indus); seven famous treasures; seven cities full of gold; seven marvels of the world, &c. Equally did the number seven play a prominent part in the architecture of temples and palaces. The famous pagoda of Churingham is surrounded by seven square walls, painted in seven different colours, and in the middle of each wall is a seven storied pyramid; just as in the antediluvian days the temple of Borsippa, now the Birs-Nimrud, had seven stages, symbolical of the seven concentric cycles of the seven spheres, each built of tiles and metals to correspond with the colour of the ruling planet of the sphere typified.

These are all "remnants of paganism" we are told--traces "of the superstitions of old, which, like the owls and bats in a dark subterranean, flew away to return no more before the glorious light of Christianity"--a statement but too easy of refutation. If the author of the article in question has collected hundreds of instances to show that not only the Christians of old but even the modern Christians have preserved the number seven, and as sacredly as it ever was before, there might be found in reality thousands. To begin with the astronomical and religious calculation of old of the pagan Romans, who divided the week into seven days, and held the seventh day as the most sacred, the Sol or Sunday of Jupiter, and to which all the Christian nations especially the Protestants--make puja to this day. If, perchance, we are answered that it is not from the pagan Romans but from the monotheistic Jews that we have it, then why is not the Saturday or the real "Sabbath" kept instead of the Sunday, or Sol's day?

If in the "Rámáyana" seven yards are mentioned in the residences of the Indian kings; and seven gates generally led to the famous temples and cities of old, then why should the Frieslanders have in the tenth century of the Christian era strictly adhered to the number seven in dividing their provinces, and insisted upon paying seven "pfennigs" of contribution? The Holy Roman and Christian Empire has seven Kurfursts or Electors. The Hungarians emigrated under the leadership of seven dukes and founded seven towns, now called Semigradyá (now Transylvania). If pagan Rome was built on seven hills, Constantinople had seven names--By-sance, Antonia, New Rome, the town of Constantine, The Separator of the World's Parts, The Treasure of Islam, Stamboul--and was also called the city on the seven Hills, and the city of the seven Towers as an adjunct to others. With the Mussulmans "it was besieged seven times and taken after seven weeks by the seventh of the Osman Sultans." In the ideas of the Eastern peoples, the seven planetary spheres are represented by the seven rings worn by the women on seven parts of the body--the head, the neck, the hands, the feet, in the ears, in the nose, around the waist--and these seven rings or circles are presented to this time by the Eastern suitors to their brides; the beauty of the woman consisting in the Persian songs of seven charms.

The seven planets ever remaining at an equal distance from each other, and rotating in the same path, hence, the idea suggested by this motion, of the eternal harmony of the universe. In this connection the number seven became especially sacred with them, and ever preserved its importance with the astrologers. The Pythagoreans considered the figure seven as the image and model of the divine order and harmony in nature. It was the number containing twice the sacred number three or the "triad," to which the "one" or the divine monad was added: 3 + 1 + 3. As the harmony of nature sounds on the key-board of space, between the seven planets, so the harmony of audible sound takes place on a smaller plan within the musical scale of the ever-recurring seven tones. Hence, seven pipes in the syrinx of the god Pan (or Nature), their gradually diminishing proportion of shape representing the distance between the planets and between the latter and the earth--and, the seven-stringed lyre of Apollo. Consisting of a union between the number three (the symbol of the divine triad with all and every people, Christians as well as pagans) and of four (the symbol of the cosmic forces or elements), the number seven points out symbolically to the union of the Deity with the universe; this Pythagorean idea was applied by the Christians--(especially during the Middle Ages)--who largely used the number seven in the symbolism of their sacred architecture. So, for instance, the famous Cathedral of Cologne and the Dominican Church at Regensburg display this number in the smallest architectural details.

No less an importance has this mystical number in the world of intellect and philosophy. Greece had seven sages, the Christian Middle Ages seven free arts (grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy). The Mahometan Sheikh-ul-Islam calls in for every important meeting seven "ulems." In the Middle Ages an oath had to be taken before seven witnesses, and the one, to whom it was administered, was sprinkled seven times with blood. The processions around the temples went seven times, and the devotees had to kneel seven times before uttering a vow. The Mahometan pilgrims turn round Kaaba seven times, at their arrival. The sacred vessels were made of gold and silver purified seven times. The localities of the old German tribunals were designated by seven trees, under which were placed seven "Schoffers" (judges) who required seven witnesses. The criminal was threatened with a seven-fold punishment and a seven-fold purification was required as a seven-fold reward was promised to the virtuous. Every one knows the great importance placed in the West on the seventh son of a seventh son. All the mythic personages are generally endowed with seven sons. In Germany, the king and now the emperor cannot refuse to stand as god-father to a seventh son, if he be even a beggar. In the East in making up for a quarrel or signing a treaty of peace, the rulers exchange either seven or forty-nine (7 X 7) presents.

To attempt to cite all the things included in this mystical number would require a library. We will close by quoting but a few more from the region of the demoniacal. According to authorities in those matters--the Christian clergy of old--a contract with the devil had to contain seven paragraphs, was concluded for seven years and signed by the contractor seven times; all the magical drinks prepared with the help of the enemy of man consisted of seven herbs; that lottery ticket wins, which is drawn out by a seven-year old child. Legendary wars lasted seven years, seven months and seven days; and the combatant heroes number seven, seventy, seven hundred, seven thousand and seventy thousand. The princesses in the fairy tales remained seven years under a spell, and the boots of the famous cat--the Marquis de Carabas--were seven leagued. The ancients divided the human frame into seven parts; the head, the chest, the stomach, two hands and two feet; and man's life was divided into seven periods. A baby begins teething in the seventh month; a child begins to sit after fourteen months (2 X 7); begins to walk after twenty-one months (3 X 7); to speak after twenty-eight months (4 X 7); leaves off sucking after thirty-five months (5 X 7); at fourteen years (2 X 7) he begins to finally form himself; at twenty-one (3 X 7) he ceases growing. The average height of a man, before mankind degenerated, was seven feet; hence the old Western laws ordering the garden walls to be seven feet high. The education of the boys began with the Spartans and the old Persians at the age of seven. And in the Christian religions--with the Roman Catholics and the Greeks--the child is not held responsible for any crime till he is seven, and it is the proper age for him to go to confession.

If the Hindus will think of their Manu and recall what the old Shastras contain, beyond doubt they will find the origin of all this symbolism. Nowhere did the number seven play so prominent a part as with the old Aryas in India. We have but to think of the seven sages--the Sapta Rishis; the Sapta Loka--the seven worlds; the Sapta Pura--the seven holy cities; the Sapta Dvipa--the seven holy islands; the Sapta Samudra--the seven holy seas; the Sapta Parvatta--the seven holy mountains; the Sapta Arania--the seven deserts; the Sapta Vriksha--the seven sacred trees; and so on, to see the probability of the hypothesis. The Aryas never borrowed anything, nor did the Brahmans, who were too proud and exclusive for that. Whence, then, the mystery and sacredness of the number seven?

Theosophist, June, 1880



http://www.blavatsky.net/blavatsky/arts/NumberSeven.htm

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Yet for all this, we have not come close to exhausting the richness found in the Number Seven. One of the most significant uses of the phrase seven times is found in these words of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 18.21):

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN


The image of the "Lucky 7" dice roll is usually made of 5 + 2, as on the cover of the Perry Mason mystery novel "The Case of the Lucky Legs", but it sometimes comes up 4 + 3, as on this gold-plated American "Lucky 7" money clip. The "Lucky 7" dice roll is found on quite a lot of hoodoo curio packaging, including 7-day candles; the character called Lady Luck, in her Irish-Amewrican World War Two incarnation, wears dice for earrings and they always show 7. These "Lucky 7" images all derive from the dice game of craps, where rolling 7 wins, and thus the dice that roll 7 are a symbol of gambler's luck

But there is more to the luck of 7 than its place in games of chance. Why is 7 so fortunate? The following colloquy, begun in a Freemasonic mailing list in 1995, was continued in the alt.lucky.w newsgroup and the pre-war blues e-list from 1997 - 1999. It is currently my most complete summary of the LUCKY SEVEN concept.



From: Chrcor@aol.com, Chris Corrigan

Hello, all. Greetings from Fellowship Lodge #490, Flint, Michigan.

A question that has come up in lodge is the mention of the number seven. Why is the number seven important in Masonry?

I can think of the seven days of the week, the seven arts and sciences, but come to a halt there. Would very much appreciate your comments.



From: jmudie@public.compusult.nf.ca, John " Scotty " Mudie


There is on a Scottish Mason's apron seven tassels on each side and when the apron was placed around me for the very first time these same seven tassels intrigued me so much that it led me to the field of research of our Great Order.

In almost every system of antiquity there are frequent references to the number seven.

The Pythagoreans called it the perfect number, 3 and 4, the triangle and the square, the perfect figures.

There were for instance seven ancient planets. The sun was the greatest planet of the ancient seven and next to the sun, the moon, changing in all its splendor every seventh day.

The Arabians had seven Holy Temples.

In Persian mysteries there were seven spacious caverns through which the aspirants had to pass.

The Goths had seven deities, as did the Romans, from whose names are derived our days of the week.

In Scriptural history there is a frequent recurrence to this number. E.g. in Revelation 1:16 -- "and He had in His right hand seven stars, " alluding to the seven churches of Asia. (The seven stars are depicted on a RWM's apron in the Scottish Constitution).

For us as Masons, King Solomon was seven years building the Temple. It was dedicated to the glory of God in the seventh month and the festival lasted seven days.

There are, as you stated, Brother Chris, our seven liberal arts and sciences.

We require seven Brethren to make a Lodge perfect and we have our seven steps on the winding staircase.

Reverting back to the Masonic apron, in the course of time aprons became embellished with much ornamentation until the present form of apron was instituted. There was no deliberation on the part of our ancient Brethren to place seven tassels on each side of the apron because the number seven has and probably always will be a sacred number in Masonic symbolism.

To assist further, Brother Chris, i suggest consulting Albert G. Mackey's "Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry," which devotes two full pages to the number seven.
I sincerely hope you enjoy the research as much as I have.



From: Gordon Charlton, gordon@charlton.demon.co.uk

That reminds me of a story. Whilst on holiday in Austria we participated in the games laid on for the evening by the tour company. We were part of a team of seven, and for each round of the game (a rather silly one involving bending over and throwing bowling balls between your legs) we adopted a different set of seven names.


The seven dwarfs
The seven deadly sins
The Trumpton fire brigade (a UK children's cartoon: They are Pugh, Pugh, Barney, Magrew, Cuthburt, Dibble and Grub)
The seven orders of architecture
The seven seas
The Seven Sisters
and so on.


Maya (my wife) reminds me that the seventh son of a seventh son is supposed to be born gifted. Apparently Donny Osmond was such a son. I pass no comment on his "gifts."

"The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers" notes (amongst other things) "If a, b are the shorter sides of a Pythagorean triangle, the seven divides one of a, b, a-b or a+b"

It also reminds us that there are 7 basically different patterns of symmetry for a frieze design, which I suppose may be of interest to an operative Mason. (I actually knew this as my father was in wallpaper for a time.)

It claims the Greeks called 7 the "rational diagonal" of a square of side 5, apparently *because* (7^2)+1=50, which makes no sense to me.

Finally it postulates that the "St. Ives" problem (As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Every wife had seven sacks, etc) dates back over 3500 years, and can be traced to an Egyptian scribe. (This theory can be traced back, possibly more reliably, to one R. J. Gillingham, "Mathematics in the Time of the Pharaohs," MIT Press, 1972.)


From: Rick Reade (bowen@unm.edu)


There are seven visible planets and luminaries (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). Each one rules a day of the week (Sun=Sunday, Saturn= Saturday, Moon=Monday, etc.) and that is where the seven day week came from. Each one is supposed to have a particular virtue or power.

Harold Percival believed that each one of us is an individual trinity, the "Triune Self", part of which re-exists in our mortal bodies, blah, blah, blah. It has seven minds:
body-mind
feeling-mind
desire-mind
rightness
reason
I-ness and
Selfness.
When the Triune Self progresses to the next noetic level and becomes an "Intelligence", those seven minds become "faculties":
focus faculty
image faculty,
dark faculty
time faculty
motive faculty
I-Am faculty and
Light faculty.
For more see "Thinking and Destiny; Adepts, Masters and Mahatmas; Masonry and Its Symbols (incorporated in the 11th ed. of T&) by Harold W. Percival.


From: Kirk Crady, kcrady@polaris.cv.nrao.edu


Checking various sources for references to the number seven, I was struck by this quote from Manly P. Hall:

"The 3 (spirit, mind, soul) descend into the 4 (the world), the sum being the 7, or the mystic nature of man, consisting of a threefold spiritual body and a fourfold material form. These are symbolized by the cube, which has six surfaces and a mysterious seventh point within..."

You may make of it what you will, but I would also observe, in reading the above quote, that the Masonic apron apparently illustrates his meaning quite beautifully: consisting of a triangle (3) fitted to a square (4). . . With this perspective in mind, its several permutations make for an interesting source of further thought.


From: Michael Sykuta, SYKUTA@Katz.Business.Pitt.Edu


From Masonic sources:
"The 7 days of the week, the 7 sabbatical years, the 7 years of famine, the 7 years of plenty, the 7 years occupied in the building of King Solomon's Temple, and especially the 7 liberal arts and sciences."




From: catherine yronwode (cat@luckymojo.com)
(that's me, the keeper of this web site)


A circa 1930s bronze Lucky Coin in my possession bears images of what the designer considered to be The 7 Lucky Artifacts:
wishbone
rabbit's foot
white elephant charm
key with heart-lock
four-leaf clover
swastika (the coin is pre-Hitlerian)
horseshoe
These surround an All-Seeing Eye, a Masonic symbol. Beneath the eye are the words, "The All-Seeing Eye Guards You From Evil."

In the small town of Nevada City, California, there is a market called the Lucky 7 Grocery Store. The reference is to the fact that in some gambling games a score of 7 wins the turn.

When Inanna the Queen of Heaven (the major love, fertility, and war goddess of the Sumerians) descended into Hell, she was forced to pass through seven gates, at each of which she was required to remove one of her garments, until she stood before her sister Erishkigal the Queen of the Underworld, naked and defenseless. She was then struck dead by seven plagues. Later, upon her return from Hell, she passed though the same seven gates, at each of which she resumed one of her garments. (See Samuel Noah Kramer and Diane Wolkstein's "Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth" for the full text of what happened to her in Hell and how she got out alive.)

In African-American hoodoo there is are several formulas for anointing oil, soap, and floor wash that use the numebr seven. Among them are Seven Herb Bath, Gambler's Gold Lucky Seven Hand Wash, Seven-Eleven Holy Type Oil, and a relatively modern line of products marketed under the name Seven African Powers. These "powers" are better known in the African-Caribbean Santeria religion as the Orishas or natural forces of the African Yoruba people, who during slavery days became identified with seven Catholic saints. Images of the Seven African Powers can be found on Santeria votive candles.

The Seven Sisters is a term used to indicate the constellation of the Pleiades -- but The Seven Sisters of New Orleans were a family of hoodoo women who lived and practiced in the Crescent City in the 1920s - 30s. Mentioned by several of Harry Middleton Hyatt's informants, they were said to have a house "by the water" and were popular enough to became the subject of a blues song by the Texas musician J. T. "Funny Paper" Smith. Here are complete lyrics for "Seven Sisters Blues, Parts I and 2" recorded October 3rd, 1931 in Chicago and released on two sides of a 78 rpm record. Notice that the number 21 (3 times 7) also appears in this song. The transciption is by Chris Smith (chris@skerries.demon.co.uk):

SEVEN SISTERS BLUES - PARTS 1 and 2
J. T. "Funny Paper" Smith

PART 1

They tell me Seven Sisters in New Orleans
that can really fix a man up right
They tell me Seven Sisters in New Orleans
that can really fix a man up right
And I'm headed for New Orleans, Louisiana,
I'm travelin' both day and night.

I hear them say the oldest Sister
look just like she's 21
I hear them say the oldest Sister
look just like she's 21
And said she can look right in your eyes
and tell you just exactly what you want done.

They tell me they've been hung,
been bled, and been crucified
They tell me they've been hung,
been bled, and been crucified
But I just want enough help
to stand on the water and rule the tide.

It's bound to be Seven Sisters,
'cause I've heard it by everybody else
It's bound to be Seven Sisters,
I've heard it by everybody else
Course, I'd love to take their word,
but I'd rather go and see for myself.

When I leave the Seven Sisters,
I'll pile stones all around
When I leave the Seven Sisters,
I'll pile stones all around
And go to my baby and tell her,
"There's another Seven Sister man in town."

Good morning, Seven Sisters,
just thought I'd come down and see
Good morning, Seven Sisters,
I thought I'd come down to see
Will you build me up where I'm torn down,
and make me strong where I'm weak?

PART 2

I went to New Orleans, Louisiana,
just on account of something I heard
I went to New Orleans, Louisiana,
just on account of something I heard
The Seven Sisters told me everything I wanted to know,
and they wouldn't let me speak a word.

Now, it's Sarah, Minnie, Bertha,
Holly, Dolly, Betty and Jane
Sarah, Minnie, Bertha,
Holly, Dolly, Betty and Jane
You can't know them Sisters apart,
because they all looks just the same.

The Seven Sisters sent me away happy,
'round the corner I met another little girl
Seven Sisters sent me 'way happy,
'round the corner I met another little girl
She looked at me and smiled, and said,
"Go, Devil, and destroy the world."

[spoken] I'm gonna destroy it, too.

[spoken] I'm all right now.

Seven times a year
the Seven Sisters will visit me in my sleep
Seven times a year
the Seven Sisters will visit me all in my sleep
And they said I won't have no trouble,
and said I'll live twelve days in a week.

Wanna go down in Louisiana,
and get the hell right out of your bein'
Wanna go down in Louisiana,
and get right out of your bein'
These Seven Sisters can do anything in Louisiana,
but you'll have to go to New Orleans.
As Funny Paper Smith's song indicates, the Seven Sisters demonstrated a "gift" or mark of power commonly found among hoodoo root workers: they could tell a client what was wrong before he or she spoke. This gift was also attributed to the Arkanasas conjure and spiritualist Aunt Caroline Dye. Advertisements for such seers may make reference to their telepathic power with stock phrases such as "She tells all before you utter a word" or "Don't tell her -- let her tell you!"

The famous Seven Sisters of New Orleans gave rise to numerous imitators, among them Ida Carter, a hoodoo women in Hogansville, Alabama, who called herself "Seven Sisters," despite being a single individual. In recent years the Seven Sisters of New Orleans name has became a brand of hoodoo products distributed by International Imports.


The theme of "seven lucky brothers" is a recurrent folkloric motif. I am reminded of the German folk tale (recorded by the Grimm brothers) of the "Seven Brothers Turned to Swans" and of the mid-20th century musical "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."

This brings us back to the "Seventh Son" concept touched on earlier -- and the special luck attributed to the seventh son of a seventh son, as seen in Willie Dixon's blues song "The Seventh Son," recorded by Willie Mabon in 1955 and also by Mose Allison. Thanks to Chris Smith (chris@skerries.demon.co.uk) for the transcription:
THE SEVENTH SON
by Willie Dixon (Arc/BMI)

Now everybody's crying about the Seventh Son,
In the whole round world there is only one;
I'm the one, I'm the one,
I'm the one, I'm the one, the one they call the Seventh Son.

Now I can tell your future before it comes to pass,
I can do things for you makes your heart feel glad;
I can look at the skies and predict the rain,
I can tell when a woman's got another man;
I'm the one, I'm the one,
I'm the one, I'm the one, the one they call the Seventh Son.

I can hold you close and squeeze you tight,
I can make you cry for me both day and night,
I can heal the sick and raise the dead,
I can make you little girls talk all out of your head;
I'm the one, I'm the one,
I'm the one, I'm the one, the one they call the Seventh Son.

Now, I can talk these words that sound so sweet,
And make your loving heart even skip a beat.
I can take you, baby, and hold you in my arms,
And make the flesh quiver on your lovely bones;
I'm the one, I'm the one,
I'm the one, I'm the one, the one they call the Seventh Son.


In alt.folklore.urban a post from Barbara Mikkelson gave more details:

Quoting from "A Dictionary Of Superstitions" by Iona Opie and Moira Tatem (Oxford University Press, 1992):

1579: Lupton's "Thousand Notable Things": "It is manifest by experience that the seuenth Male Chyld by iust order (neuer a Gyrle or Wench borne betweene) doth heele onely with touching through a naturall gyft, the Kings Euyll."
("The King's Evil" is the skin disease scrofula.)


Then there's the Muddy Waters' song, "Hootchie Cootchie Man" (written by WIllie Dixon) -- with its "seven doctors" -- partial lyrics courtesy Carl Wagoner :



On the seventh hour
of the seventh day
of the seventh month
the seven doctors say
"He were born for good luck
that you'll see"
I got seven hundred dollars
don't you mess with me
'cause i'm the hootchie cootchie man...


From: Yoke Lim


In Chinese culture, the number 7 also features rather prominently in some aspects of life. For example, the seventh day of the first moon of the lunar year is known as Human's Day. That day is considered the birthday of all human beings universally. That is why a Chinese is deemed to be a year older on that day, regardless of what the actual date of birth is. But this is not to say that a Chinese does not celebrate a birthday on the actual day of birth.
I have no idea how far back in time this idea started, but as I write this, I am struck by the coincidence of the Christian concept of creation of the world by the seventh day as related in Genesis.


Similarly, on a death, a special ceremony is held on the 49th day after death, that is, 7 X 7 days. It signifies the final parting.


From: dhand302@aol.com (DHAND302)


I came across a reference (in Encyclopedia Britannica, actually) to the "Shichi-fuku-jin," or the Seven Gods of Luck in Japanese folklore. They're described as comical deities often depicted riding on a treasure ship with various magical implements, such as a hat of invisibility, rolls of brocade, an inexhaustible purse, keys to the divine treasure-house, cloves, scrolls or books, a lucky rain hat, or a robe of feathers.
I've never heard of these whimsical little dudes before, but I instinctively like them a lot. Yet when I went to the library to research this a bit further (at least find a good picture of them) I found nary a trace.

Anybody else know anything more?



From: weldonkees@aol.com (WeldonKees) (Paul Edson)


The "shichi-fukujin," translated either as the "Seven Gods of Happiness" or "Seven Gods of Luck" are personifications of earthly happiness in Japanese folk religion. They are:

HOTEI: the "fat" or "laughing" Buddha, who personifies your garden-variety mirth and merriment.
BISHAMONTEN: the watchman
FUKUROKUJU: the god of longevity
JUROJIN: the god of scholarship
DAIKOKU: the god of nutrition
EBISU: the god of fishing
BENZAITEN: the goddess of music.
These seven are often portrayed together riding on a treasure ship, but may also be carved or depicted individually. Representations are often in the form of wooden or ivory amulets and most commonly are used to pin together the kimono. I don't have any further information about what objects are generally carried by or associated with each, sorry.

These seven gods are probably an expansion of earlier Chinese deities who fulfilled the same sorts of functions. The Chinese deities were five in number, dressed in the red robes of civil servants, and each was usually accompanied by a bat. In fact, five bats depicted together often stand in for the gods as a symbol of luck.

(Information from "The Dictionary of Symbolism" by Hans Biedermann and from my brother, who has a master's degree in Japanese culture and language.)

plant

Satisfactory

adesidgi: Damn right!

As many as possible

worse

good

That one na him "TORO"

Don't tell me you're thinking what i think you're thinking?

What do you think she wants to know?

Shakes

A creative man will give his wife a grand piano for her birthday;
A romantic man will give her an upright organ

Nigeria is America's largest source of import and second largest export market in Africa

I always wonder if B.sc and HND are suppose to be looked upon on thesame educational honour.

It also keeps me wondering when i see most vacancy adverts read;

"The applicants must have a minimum of B.sc,...e.t.c. while neither ND nor HND is honoured in most cases"

Is B.sc and HND really on thesame level? and what is the way forward...?

Well, i'm going to do nothing. But both of them will suffer psychologically.

It worked! I do receive a joke two days ago...

To ignore that question?

Bagoma has already said what i have in mind...

MTN no dey happen at all!

Timberland

How could she?

I need a Gmail invitation pls

nddy:
bad people will still exist

I don't think so

Seun:
What are you talking about? I don't smoke, I don't drink, I do not have a girlfriend and I don't consider myself a saint because I "fight" (that is, I find myself involved in many verbal and virtual disputes).

If you and I take time to interact with people outside our circle of friends we will discover that many assumptions we hold about life are just not valid.

Ha! you are the first guy that i'm hearing saying he doesn't smoke, drink, or womanize.

  I don't personally see it as unsual but....
 
     How do you survive?

A guy that doesn't smoke, drink or have a girl to himself is a MEAN guy.

It is very difficult if not impossible to find a guy that doesn't do any of the three

Thanks everyone!

The marriage of three Vs

If a university in Nigeria is not satisfied with the quality of candidates JAMB offers admission to then let it carry it's own method of admission. I don't really see any harm in it.