According to the traditions of the French and Slavs, an even number of flowers are brought only for funerals, but it is customary for a living person to give flowers in an odd number. However, in almost all of Europe, as well as in the United States and some eastern states, everything is exactly the opposite. An even number of flowers are given to the living, as this brings good luck and happiness.
The customs of the peoples of the world
In Israel, only an even number of flowers are given, and no flowers are brought to the funeral at all. In Georgia, it is generally accepted that everything that is associated with family values brings only happiness. Therefore, Georgians give two flowers to living people (like a married couple), but they carry an odd number of flowers to the cemetery so that the deceased cannot take his pair with him. The Japanese, in turn, consider numbers 1, 3 and 5 as masculine (yang), and numbers 2, 4 and 6 as feminine (yin). Moreover, in their culture, the number 4 means peace or death, so they never give an even number of flowers to living people. Italians bring only an odd number of flowers to the funeral.
Roots of tradition
All such prejudices and traditions began in the ancient world. Each of the countries has come a long way of development and, in this regard, many peoples have completely different views on the belonging of numbers to any customs or rules.
Pagans have always interpreted even numbers as symbols of evil or death. The old saying “trouble doesn’t come alone” immediately comes to mind. Many ancient cultures associated paired numbers with the completion, completeness of the life cycle, therefore they always presented the dead with gifts in even quantities. The ancient people considered odd numbers on the contrary, symbols of luck, happiness and success. In their opinion, odd numbers were reflected in instability, movement, life and development, and even numbers were always considered symbols of peace and tranquility.
The ancient Pythagoreans considered odd numbers to be symbols of light, goodness and life. For them, the odd numbers symbolized the right side, or the side of luck. But the even numbers, on the contrary, symbolized the left side - the side of darkness, evil and death. Perhaps because of these beliefs, the well-known omen "to get up on the left foot" appeared, which means to start the day unsuccessfully.
Signs of the ancient Slavs
The inhabitants of Ancient Russia, at the time of the beginnings of the Christian faith, always associated paired numbers with a complete life cycle, and always presented to the dead only a pair of flowers. Thus, the soldiers who died in the war, who defended their homeland, were given two flowers at the funeral and said "one flower to the deceased, the second to God." With the advent of full-fledged Christianity, in which the right side also means the side of life, light and faith, and the left side is a symbol of darkness and godlessness, the Slavs began to associate paired numbers with the left side, and odd numbers with the right. From these principles, the custom began to present to the deceased only a pair of flowers, while at the funeral an even number of flowers, up to 10 stems, is given. If there are more than 12 flowers in a bouquet, then this has no semantic meaning. But all the same, in spite of this, desperate and in love men give women not 100, but 99 roses.
