According to the traditions of the French and Slavs, an even number of flowers is brought only to the funeral, 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 USA and some eastern states, everything is exactly the opposite. They give an even number of flowers to the living, because it brings good luck and happiness.
Customs of the peoples of the world
Only an even number of flowers are given in Israel, and flowers are not brought at all for a funeral. In Georgia, it is generally accepted that everything related to family values brings only happiness. Therefore, Georgians give living flowers two flowers (like a married couple), but in the cemetery they carry an odd number of flowers so that the deceased could not take their pair with them. The Japanese, in turn, consider the numbers 1, 3 and 5 masculine (yang), and the numbers 2, 4 and 6 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 to the funeral only an odd number of flowers.
Roots of tradition
The beginning of all such prejudices and traditions was laid in the ancient world. Each of the countries has come a long way of development and, in connection with this, 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 proverb immediately comes to mind: "trouble does not come alone." Many ancient cultures associated paired numbers with the completion, completeness of the life cycle, so they always presented gifts to the dead in an even amount. Odd numbers, on the contrary, were considered by ancient people as symbols of luck, happiness and success. In their opinion, odd numbers were displayed 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 even numbers on the contrary, symbolized the left side - the side of darkness, evil and death. Perhaps because of these beliefs a well-known omen “to rise from 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 completed life cycle, and always presented only a pair of flowers to the dead. So, the soldiers who defended their homeland who died in the war were given two flowers at the funeral and said "one flower to the deceased, the second to God." With the advent of full 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 pair numbers with the left side, and odd numbers with the right. It was from these principles that the custom went to present only a pair of flowers to the deceased, while at the funeral an even number of flowers with up to 10 stems is presented. If in the bouquet there are more than 12 flowers, then this has no meaning. But still, regardless of this, desperate and loving men give women not 100, but 99 roses.
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