Mongolian Culture

Most lucky and unlucky numbers for Mongolians

Lucky numbers for Mongolians

Most lucky and unlucky numbers for Mongolians

Numbers have always played interesting role in Mongolian culture. Lucky numbers are a big deal in Mongolia where people can actually select their own phone numbers, license plates, and other random things, which could be an expensive.  Likewise, they even have haircutting dates. When they are planning a big ceremony or cultural event, they have to choose auspicious day by lunar calendar. In contrast, on unlucky day, everyone would avoid to plan important traditional ceremonies. General 3 and 9 are lucky number, in contrast, 13 and 7 are bad omen numbers.

Today we will explore 2 luckiest numbers and 1 unlucky number:

Lucky number 3:

In Mongolian folklore, “three” is the number of the world. The idea is that the essence of something is formed in three years. Mongolian children learn to ride horses from the age of three. The number three is also called the “spiritual trinity.” Any activities are preferred to be done 3 time like singing three times, drinking three times, playing three times etc.,

Lucky number 9:

Nine is a lucky number for Mongolians because it connotes longevity, happiness and good luck. In Mongolian teachings and fairy tales, it is expressed as “nine scholars of a man”, “Nine Precious Stone”, “Nine Generals of Chinggis khaan”, “Nine White Banners” and “nine gifts of white”. Also the number Nine is called the golden number of trade. It is a symbol of prosperity. According to them, the number nine symbolizes the power of the mind, the wise mind.

Unlucky number 7:

Since Mongolians refer to the underground world by the number seven, it seems that expressions such as “seven is worse” have emerged. Therefore, seven is considered to be a symbol of decline in Mongolia.

 

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