“THREE” IS SO LUCKY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18629, 26 July 1930, Page 11

“THREE” IS SO LUCKY.

The superstition that three is a lucky number is a survival from primitive mythology. Even numbers were considered masculine, while odd numbers were taken as feminine. Folk considered that there was a certain amount of luck attached to all odd numbers, but especially three and multiples of three. Medicine was always prescribed to be taken an odd number of times per day. which practice survives to-day, witness to unwelcome command: “To be taken three times a day, after meals!” Chinese pagodas were always built with an odd number of storeys. This universal reverence for “three” is because it denotes the mystery of birth. There is a man and a woman, and then their child makes three; a marvellous number, of truly fortunate omen, thought primitive man. This idea underlies all the moral and philosophical significence of three, as seen in the Three Graces, Three Fates, the three wishes of the fairy tales, and even our own three cardinal virtues; Faith, Hope and Charity. Lemon juice added to kitchen salt will remove stains from egg spoons and from china.