Almost every person approaching the forty-year milestone of life necessarily begins to learn with surprise from friends that this anniversary cannot be celebrated, since this is a bad omen. However, the most interesting thing is that no one can really explain the essence of this omen.
The Internet is replete with stories of how people gave up on this sign and cheerfully celebrated 40 years - and as a result, brought on a lot of misfortune. In contrast to such gloomy stories, there are many stories about grandfathers and grandmothers, who did not prevent a feast in honor of their fortieth birthday from happily living to ninety years old. And this is nothing surprising, how many people - so many opinions. So who should you listen to and why shouldn't you celebrate 40 years?
The ban on celebrating the fortieth anniversary is one of the mysterious and unfounded. This superstition is most likely due to the fact that the number forty is considered sacred in many cultures. It was of particular importance among the ancient Jews. It is enough to open the same Bible - this number is found there all the time. Moses led the Jews through the hot desert for forty years, Jesus spent forty days there after baptism, and the Great Flood lasted the same number of days.
The ancient Slavs also treated this number with respect - there is an opinion that it was on it that their number system was based. Many rituals associated with death and birth are tied to this number. For example, a child could not be shown to strangers for forty days after his birth, and on the fortieth day after a person's death, it was believed that his soul finally said goodbye to the earthly world. Perhaps it is the association with the forty days of death that is the main reason why 40 years should not be celebrated. However, according to this logic, the child should not be celebrated even nine years, however, there is no bad omen on this score.
Esotericists cite numerology as arguments. Indeed, in Eastern magic, forty is the number of death. True, not forty, but four, however, according to the laws of numerology, this is almost the same: 4 + 0 = 4.
The Orthodox Church considers this sign to be complete nonsense, however, like any superstition. The priests unanimously declare that belief in any signs is sin, evil and temptation. From this we can conclude: whether to celebrate 40 years or not is only your business. Remember that superstitions only work with those who seriously believe in them.
