Today's date, 12/12/12, is considered auspicious by some, doomed by others, and just plain easy to remember by many.
Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 - 12/12/12
- is the last triple-digit date alignment until Jan. 1, 2101. There will be
other interesting dates, of course, but none quite as aesthetically pleasing as
12/12/12, at least not for the next century or so.
The number certainly holds significance in human existence through
the millennia:
12 hours of day and night,
12 months in
the year in the Roman calendar,
12 signs of the Zodiac,
12
Apostles hand-picked by Jesus to spread his word. ,
12 days of Christmas,
12 tribes of Israel named for the sons of Jacob.
12 gods of Olympus,
12 old testament prophets... you get the idea.
12 people in a jury
12 labors or tasks must be completed by Hercules
12 hours how the Egyptians divided the day: 10 for daylight and one each for dawn and dusk.
12 considered a "three" number because the digits add up to three —
corresponds with the largest planet, Jupiter (to the sun's No. 1 and the
moon's No. 2), which means wealth.
Mathematics fanatics are excited by the sheer number of ways the number
12 can be divided: halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, and twelfths.The number 12 is easily divided by 2, 3, 4, and 6 making it one of the easiest low numbers to work with and separate into groups,
The number 12 brings harmony to the yin and yang of Chinese numerology:
The number 1 is a yang number ruled by the sun, while 2 is a yin number
ruled by the moon
We group
many things - baked goods, cans of beer, roses, the hours of the day - into
sets of 12.
In the
Judeo-Christian tradition, it represents the product of three -
symbolizing divinity (Holy Trinity, three classes of ancient Jews) - and
four - symbolizing the earth (four directions, four seasons).
Doomsday diehards
However, many doomsdayers believe the date 12/12/12 heralds the end
of the world, mainly owing to an interpretation of the Mayan calendar.
More pedantic believers in the end-of-the-world, meantime, are
convinced that the actual doomsday is on 12/21/12, when the Mayan
calendar is set to end.
