Amy's Astrology

Will the Year of the Rabbit Bring Good Fortune? Let the Stars be Your Guide!

A lot of people I knew had lucky rabbit’s foot keychains when I was growing up. I was one of those people who more avoided them, especially as I cared for many bunnies as a girl. I figured the foot wasn’t lucky for the rabbit involved.

For the last several days I have been seeing the number 4:44 a lot. Mostly it’s just from glancing at a clock at that time, but I always pay attention to numbers I am commonly seeing at least in triplicate form. In western culture the number 4 is indicative of support and a strong foundation, as in four legs for a sturdy table. In many Asian cultures, by contrast, number 4 is considered extremely unlucky, as four is close to the word for death in Chinese and a few other Asian languages. The Thai words that I know for four (see — สี่) and dead (tdaai laow —ตาย) do not sound at all close in that language, but 4 is a bad fortune to get in Buddhist wats nonetheless. It seems to me that 14 and 24 aren’t that great of fortunes either (they go up to 31, as in days of the month). If someone has a specific to Thailand insight to share regarding the number four, I’d love to hear it.

“In many East Asian cultures, including China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan, the number 4 is considered unlucky. If you step onto an elevator, you probably won't see a button indicating the fourth floor because most apartment buildings and hospitals skip the number altogether. In Beijing, it's not even possible to get a vehicle license plate that has the number 4 on it. And in Singapore, a luxury carmaker had to change the name of the Alfa Romeo model 144 because citizens were scared to buy it. It's the same reason Nokia phone models don't start with the number 4.

In Chinese culture, the reason behind the superstition surrounding the number 4 lies in the way it sounds. The word for the number 4 sounds much like the word for death. The same is true for many other Asian cultures, which share a number of linguistic similarities. In Japan and Korea, for instance, the word for the 4 and the word for death are exactly the same. Furthermore, in Japan, 49 is an unlucky number because it sounds like the words that mean "pain until death" [sources: Times of India, Today I Found Out].

The fear of the number 4 is known as tetraphobia and is considered more serious in Asian cultures than Westerners' propensity to think the number 13 is unlucky. In fact, it affects the way business is done in these countries. Corporate phone numbers, product serial numbers and office addresses should be cleansed of the number 4 if a business hopes to succeed. It's a fact of life that can be problematic for Western companies entering the Asian market, like Four Seasons hotels or Foursquare, both of which may need a different brand name to make a good impression [source: Paris].”

Oddly enough number 13, which is considered neutral and sometimes even lucky in Asian cultures, adds up to the number 4. Thailand fortune tellers have shown an interest in numerology that often involves the sum of or difference between two numbers. So why am I showing an interest in four in my zodiac predictions? Perhaps due to this link about the Year of the rabbit: