Start here · Essential guide
Numbers in Rituals and Customs
How fixed counts of repetitions, days and objects shape ceremonies, from seven circuits and forty-day fasts to 108 beads, with the reasons traditions give.
Customs, Luck and Everyday Belief
Numbers in Customs and Ritual
Traditional counts that shape ceremonies, trade words and everyday phrases.
Anniversary Names from Paper to Diamond
Where the list of wedding anniversary materials came from, from German silver and gold weddings to Victorian etiquette and twentieth-century jewelers' lists.
Cities of Seven Hills
Rome's seven hills, how Romans used the idea in festival and poetry, and why Istanbul, Lisbon, Edinburgh and other cities later claimed the same pattern.
Coming of Age Ages Across Cultures
Why bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah, quinceanera and Japan's coming-of-age day fall at particular ages, and how tradition, law and puberty shape those numbers.
Counting-Out Rhymes like Eeny Meeny
Where children's selection rhymes such as Eeny Meeny come from, what scholars say about their possible roots in number words, and which claims lack evidence.
Gross, Score and Dozen as Traditional Counts
What dozen, gross, score and other old group words mean, where they come from, and what they reveal about how traders and households counted goods.
Mourning Periods from Shiva to Forty Days
A neutral comparison of counted mourning periods in Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, from seven days to forty days and beyond.
The Bakers Dozen and Medieval Bread Law
The legend that medieval bakers added a thirteenth loaf to escape bread-law penalties, what the Assize of Bread regulated, and what remains uncertain.
The Nine Tailors and Change Ringing
What the old phrase nine tailors meant for church bell tolling, how English change ringing uses counted rows of bells, and why the numbers grow so quickly.
Related topics