40 years is a significant anniversary. Why do many men refuse to make this day a real holiday, preferring to postpone the celebration to the next year? This seems especially incomprehensible in the modern world of the latest technologies and the greatest achievements of science. With such a wide distribution of this belief, most people find it difficult to explain why it is impossible to arrange a holiday on this day. Should we trust strange superstitions, or perhaps ignore them?

To decide for yourself this controversial issue for sure, you should figure out where these superstitions came from and consider all possible options.

Slavic Magpies

The Slavic beliefs, rituals and traditions are closest to us. That is why the strange meaning of the fortieth anniversary will be looked for in them, first of all.

Both of these traditional beliefs strongly associated 40 with the most terrible - with death and death. Therefore, the number was considered "mournful".

And people who, in spite of everything, organized festivities on such a day, respectively, did not respect death itself and did not reckon with it. This attitude meant challenging the "lady with the scythe," which is never a good thing.

Lack of protection

Our ancestors were afraid to celebrate the fortieth birthday for another reason. This age was considered a kind of half of the entire life path, the time when the results were summed up.. It was for this that the Guardian Angel had to appear before the Almighty on this day in order to give an account of what his ward was able to achieve and achieve. Accordingly, at this turn, a person was left without higher protection for a short time. It would seem that having learned a lot, having developed intuition, he should live one day calmly. But men are naturally more rational. They make decisions based on facts. It is easier for women - at any age they have developed intuition, which helps to successfully avoid trouble. So, it is on the fortieth anniversary that a man is very vulnerable. And a loud feast and a holiday can just attract the forces of evil and misfortune, which, as you know, are just waiting for the right time and the absence of divine protection.

Orthodox Church about this figure

Here you can add a few more important events related to religious beliefs that speak of this number. People on our land have always treated the "forty" with great respect (and a touch of fear). Not without reason, even the number system was based precisely on this: forty magpies and so on.

• Forty days after death, a wake is celebrated, that is, it is this period that the soul of the deceased is still nearby, between friends, relatives and acquaintances. Only then does the soul ascend.
• The baptism of a child takes place forty days after birth.
• After 40 days, counting from childbirth, the so-called Entry into the temple takes place.

Here are some more religious related events. We see this figure very often in the Bible:

• Moses led his people through the wilderness for just such a period. It was believed that during this time generations would change and the people would become “renewed”.
• According to biblical records, the purifying Flood lasted the same amount of time.
• After Jesus was baptized, he spent exactly 40 days in the desert, being subjected to temptations and temptations.
• Lent also lasts the same amount of time.
• Prophet Elijah was in hiding for 40 days.
• The trials of Nineveh lasted 40 days.

Mystic. Beliefs of other nations and religions

Not only among the Slavs, much is connected with the number in question. Here is what is associated with him in the Koran - the holy book of Muslims:

• The Prophet Muhammad received his first revelation from the Almighty at this age.
• The number of reasons due to which the End of the World should occur is also 40.
• In the Holy Book "Gafer" in verse number 40, the fortieth sura, it is said that evil will be punished by the like, and those who do good can enter Paradise.

Babylon

Astronomy was very developed in Babylon, the predictions of this "science" were believed and respected. So, Babylonian astronomers saw a connection between natural disasters and cataclysms, especially floods and storms, with the spring period when the constellation Pleiades disappeared from view. And it lasted exactly 40 days. It was believed that it is at this time that the evil forces gain temporary dominance, as a sign of which they lit a symbolic bundle of forty reeds.

Rome and others

In this ancient state, a period of 40 days was considered sufficient for purification, so funeral and farewell feasts took place precisely after this period. Quarantine for merchant and other ships arriving from distant countries, where terrible diseases like the plague dominated, without fail lasted the same amount of time. It is also known that the temples of many ancient peoples, cities and religions had one common feature - their architectural solution was based on forty columns. Among them are the temples of the Druids, the ancient city of Baalbek, the religious buildings of the Tatars and Persians, as well as the temple of Ezekiel. In ancient Greece, they also associated quite a lot with this particular age. They thought that this birthday is the highest point in the development of a person and personality, a kind of pinnacle of the life path.

However, the ascent to the top also has a negative side - then there is only a decline, a decline and an approach to the final departure, that is, death. The Greeks believed that at this age death was approaching so tightly that even few people lived to see the next serious anniversary - the 50th anniversary.

tarot

Most people know about divination with the help of Tarot cards, where each card has a special meaning and symbol. The main Arcana, meaning "Death", is assigned the letter "M" in them. It is this letter in the Hebrew alphabet - "Mam". It corresponds exactly to the number 40.

Consonances

Here the strangeness of the chosen date can only be considered in relation to the Russian language. After all, if you look closely and listen, then the sound of the number forty is quite clearly divided into two other words - rubbish and rock. The first one is garbage, the second - fate in its inevitability. One can even imagine how Fate itself begins to throw out, sweep out of life everything superfluous, unnecessary, interfering. Is it worth it to tease your fate with a loud holiday with guests, gifts and festivities, attracting the attention of various forces that are beyond the control of man?

The meaning of a number in numerology

Numerology also allocates a special place to the combination of these two numbers. And it is precisely the combination of four and zero, which gives not one, but eleven meanings. Briefly describe the values ​​of the components, they will be approximately as follows:

• "4" - relative peace, balance and death on the physical level;
• “0” is also peace, only absolute, as well as spiritual life.

From the different understanding of these isolated meanings, as well as their combination, such a multiple understanding of the number 40 itself is obtained. However, one can single out the main idea from them - all the same the transition of the material to the spiritual, to the next step in understanding oneself, the world and so on. Also, among all these meanings, another one can be considered quite remarkable, which speaks of zeroing or “erasing” the fate of a person during his lifetime. Numerology refers this phenomenon to rather rare cases when it is no longer possible to fulfill your mission.

This is what leads us to the same, common in many cultures and directions, understanding of forty - a direct association with death, the completion of some path and, in general, the end of Everything (with a capital letter).

What's waiting?

Almost all the signs and beliefs that were given here come down to one thing - it is not necessary to arrange a holiday to widely celebrate forty years. Most of them are associated with the departure from life or, conversely, the arrival of death. However, none of them gives an answer to the question - what awaits the one who nevertheless decides to arrange a holiday? It is difficult to find a definite answer to it. However, here are some possible specific consequences for a man:

• first of all, the imminent onset of death;
• possible long and exhausting not only the hero of the day, but also his relatives, illness;
• severe mental suffering due to various events that will affect health.

Do they celebrate this anniversary abroad?

In the modern world, in addition to the Slavic states, this age is given such importance only in the Land of the Rising Sun - Japan. The thing is that there is a four in the number, the name of which in Japanese has a consonance with the word "death". That is why many people in Japan do not celebrate not only the fortieth, but also all other birthdays in which there is a "sinister" four. This prejudice also applies to everything that comes under number 4 - the unwillingness to live on the fourth floor, to be on this number in the queue, and so on.

Options for creating a holiday for the superstitious and not

Of course, each man will decide for himself whether to celebrate this date in a special way, despite all the superstitions that exist even now. However, there is a way out even for those who consider folk beliefs to be reliable and important. Firstly, we can note not the arrival of forty, but the departure of thirty-nine! That is, cheat. Just do not mention the date that has come, saying that the last, 39th year is finally gone.

You can also arrange a big holiday the next day, because this will already bring the birthday person closer to forty-one years, which is nothing special.

Another option is the most original. The holiday can take place on the anniversary, but the reason for it needs to be changed. For example, make a real New Year's party. Of course, all guests must be warned that it is worth congratulating the hero of the day on the New Year, and not on the fortieth birthday. And in conclusion - a short excerpt from the film with the participation of Gosha Kutsenko. Why doesn't his hero celebrate forty years? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1oa_pVFKk

Most people have come across such a statement as the 40th anniversary should never be celebrated. A person who ignores such statements will be accompanied by constant failure, and in the worst case, even sudden death. Let's try to consider the question together - why it is impossible to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a man or a woman and soberly decide that this is an ordinary superstition that has no basis or a real fact.

There is no consensus on this matter, some argue that these are relics of the past and nothing terrible can happen, others give a lot of arguments in support of such a belief, others, relying on Vedic or numerological teachings, argue their opinion. In this article, we will try to consider all sides as objectively as possible, and only you can decide which side to take.

Reasons for belief

We must not forget that all folk signs and superstitions came from the depths of centuries. Viewed in this light, the reasons for this attitude towards the number 40 are quite clear. Previously, the average life expectancy of people was 40-45 years., this was due to heavy physical labor, social disorder and regular wars. Approaching the turn of the 40th anniversary, most people experienced the horror of an imminent death, and as a result, they were afraid of this figure. Over time, the years of life increased, but fear was deeply imprinted in the memory of people, and for this reason it is customary to ignore the anniversary of 40 years.

Most cultures of the East, the number 4 is associated with an imminent and imminent death. So, for example, in the Japanese islands, the character for death is very similar to the character for the number 4. Paradoxically, even today, most organizations try to avoid numbers that include a four.

The inhabitants of Babylon the number 40 and misfortune were placed on the same level. The fact is that it was during this period that the Pleiades disappeared from the sky, which brought with it bad weather in the form of a terrible storm or an obligatory flood. Paying tribute to the dominance of evil forces, people lit a memorial fire, consisting of 40 reeds.

Numerology this date applies much more widely. Conventionally, 40 can be divided into two independent numbers 4 and 0, and each carries its own individual meaning. So 4 is directly associated with a solid foundation, openness, and to achieve harmony, you will have to make a lot of effort using hard physical labor. Zero is an endless cycle of life with a mandatory successful completion. Despite all the difficulties, zero obliges you not to quit what you started, but to continue working and a positive outcome is guaranteed.

The number 40 encountered in life is an indispensable success in all endeavors, provided that they are brought to the end.

Alas, along with the pluses, there are also negative sides - people who have passed the milestone of 40 years in every possible way avoid inevitable changes in life, trying to maintain the usual course of time. Constantly ignoring advice from outside, trying to live by their interests and beliefs, a person repels others who have the opinion that this individual is not distinguished by moral stamina or mental abilities. Such behavior negatively affects mutual understanding with others, which leads to solitude or isolation in oneself.

Astrology, also splits this date into two digits, but the meaning is slightly different. Four directly regulates passions and constantly accompanies you through life, zero is the beginning of spiritual life, along the way you should listen to your intuition and inner voice. The full number maintains order, helps to realize all dreams, by and large, this is the door behind which we can meet a completely different life, subject to regular work on ourselves.

Persons who have passed the line with the number 40 have creative inclinations, practical, reliable, accustomed to finishing the work they have begun.

Of the minuses - conservatism in almost all areas, ignoring others, rudeness towards close circle.

Vedic meaning The number 40 means death, the transition from one state to another, but along with this, it means the fullness of internal development, the completion of spiritual education.

Having analyzed the total number into components, we get - 4, which implies unconditional conservatism, creative work, unshakable opinion. Zero is absolute chaos, the denial of everything and everyone.

official church, to all mystical or sacred numbers, unlike most religions of the world, it applies unequivocally - no dates or numbers are able to affect the fate of a person. Orthodoxy claims that the numbers described in the Bible are only symbolic in nature, there is no special meaning.

Specifically, the number 40 symbolically means the readiness to submit to the will of God and follow His instructions. As an example, we can consider the wandering of the people of Israel in the wilderness or the stay of Jesus Christ in the wilderness before going to preach, the resurrection of Christ also occurred 40 days after the crucifixion.

Officially confirmed reasons

So far, we have touched on folk signs, superstitions and other unconfirmed data, but here is what official science thinks about this.

• Women who have reached this age may pay attention to changes in biorhythms. Most of the fair sex pays attention to the appearance of gray hair and wrinkles.
• This period for women is determined by the first signs of the upcoming menopause, which brings with it a sharp change in mood, susceptibility to stress and a change in well-being for the worse.
• Men are overwhelmed by thoughts about things that for some reason have not yet been done, which also affects external irritability, and sometimes even closeness.
• Let's not forget that regardless of gender, thoughts come that most of life has passed, and there is not much time left before it ends.

How to celebrate your 40th birthday

• Celebrate not the arrival of a new year of life, but the years lived.
• Guests should congratulate not on the onset of 40 years, but on successfully overcoming the milestone of 39 years.
• Try during the celebration, do not touch the coming date.
• It is better to invite to the celebration, only the closest friends and relatives.
• Look at the folk calendar, for sure you will find some kind of holiday there on this day, celebrate it accordingly.
• You can move the celebration to the next day, immediately after your birthday.

How to relate to such things, a person must decide for himself based on upbringing, moral principles, general worldview, religion.

Treating the choice of a person close to you should be respectful, even if your views are completely opposite.

Surely you have heard about the ban on celebrating the anniversary of 40 years. What is this sign connected with and how is it argued? Is it impossible or is it still possible to call guests and celebrate your fortieth birthday? I propose to find answers to the questions posed in the following material. Let's focus on women.

The people have collected many reasons and signs for this. Let's take a look at the seven most popular of them. So why don't women celebrate their 40th birthday?

Reason 1: Biblical

In domestic countries, trying to understand why it is impossible to celebrate 40 years, they often turn to the Bible. The Eternal Book has a very negative chronology regarding the number forty, namely:

• Christ spent 40 days in the wilderness, where Satan tried to tempt him.
• The duration of the Great Flood was also equal to forty days.
• It is believed that the human soul remains on the earthly plane after death, also 40 days.
• For 40 years the Jewish people had to wander through the wilderness.

It may also be noted that a young mother is not allowed to enter the temple for forty days, as it is believed that she is "unclean."

Reason 2: Guardian Angel is retiring

One fairly popular belief says that upon reaching the age of forty, a person loses his angelic protection. Literally - the guardian angel "retires."

Reason 3: Tarot Card Warning

Many people who are seriously interested in esotericism find out why they do not celebrate 40 years for a woman and a man in numerology, as well as the Tarot card system. Eastern magic calls forty the number of death (to be more precise, it’s not 40, but 4, but 0 no longer plays too big a role in this case).

In addition, in the Tarot cards, one of the arcana "Death" is spelled by the letter "M". In the Hebrew alphabet, it is she who is associated with the number forty.

Reason 4: Asian version

And among the inhabitants of East and Central Asia, four is an extremely negative number, symbolizing evil, misfortune, death. They don't even have a fourth floor, an apartment, a hospital room, a TV channel. A 3 is immediately followed by a 5.

Reason 5: Linguistic version

Philologists saw in the ban on celebrating 40 years a special letter equivalent. Namely, the number "forty" is formed by two words "sor" and "rock". That is, the combination is designed to tell about a quarrel (conflict, impurity) and fatal inevitability.

Reason 6: Planetary Scale

Some experts in astrology call the 40-year milestone a crisis period. They argue this by the fact that from the age of 39 to 43 a person is “supervised” by the heavy planet Uranus, which, moreover, is in opposition to itself in the horoscope.

The indicated position of Uranus can provoke unexpected serious life changes - starting with a change of place of residence, work and ending with a significant reassessment of one's entire life, bankruptcies, crisis, illnesses.

In addition, Pluto also helps the planet Uranus in this period. The latter is associated with a crisis, throwing, panic, confusing life situations.

Reason 7: The memory of the ancestors

Why can't women and men celebrate 40 years? Such a ban may also be associated with the low life expectancy of our ancestors. So, for example, in very old times, people who lived to be 40 years old looked like deep old people: they lost their teeth, hair, their faces were all dotted with wrinkles, and their bodies were overcome by various pathologies.

In memory of this, allegedly, it is impossible to arrange a celebration of the fortieth anniversary.

Is it possible to celebrate 40 years: reasons "for"

In fact, it should be noted that not all nationalities found the number forty bad. For example, the Slavs used the 40-year number system. And besides, "forty" was a quantitative measure.

But let's dig even deeper, turning to more ancient civilizations, namely Ancient Greece and Rome. In those days, the fortieth anniversary was celebrated by gathering all their relatives and friends for a feast.

The Romans and Greeks believed that by the age of 40, vitality and intelligence flourished, however, at the same time, old age and the inevitable end began. As you know, in that ancient time, eternal wars did not allow people to live to a happy old age. Few people managed to step over even the fifty-year milestone.

But today, human life expectancy has increased significantly. And now 40 years is not only not associated with imminent old age, but, on the contrary, often means the beginning of a new period in life. Even if not young, but meaningful, wise by experience and past years, but open to the new. Accordingly, one can no longer take so seriously, at least, the version with respect for the memory of ancestors.

How to celebrate your 40s?

In any case, no rational explanations and superstitions can eliminate human optimism, as well as the desire to celebrate the next life milestone that has been overcome. And in order for the celebration to be as favorable as possible, delivering exceptionally positive emotions, it is recommended to use the following recommendations:

• to focus on the past years, and not on those that have come;
• arrange in advance with the guests so that they congratulate you not on the onset of the 40th anniversary, but on the completion of the 39-year limit;
• also ask everyone in the audience not to talk about your age during the celebration;
• gather for the celebration only your closest entourage;
• don't celebrate forty years on your birthday, rather wait a few days. In this case, bad omens will stop working;
• pick up another solemn event in the calendar and organize a theme party.

So we figured out whether 40 years are celebrated. It is impossible to draw an unambiguous conclusion: there are ardent admirers of signs and superstitions who, under pain of the death penalty, will not celebrate their fortieth birthday. And there are those who neglect the beliefs and plan to have fun on this day.

What to do is up to you, listen to your intuition and your heart, let them suggest the most correct decision. And in conclusion, I recommend watching the thematic video material:

The opinion of some representatives of the stronger sex that it is undesirable to celebrate the fortieth anniversary applies and there are no scientific, historical or religious justifications for it. However, many men and women are ready to defend the correctness of this prejudice with foam at the mouth, considering the number 40 to a certain extent karmic, with which many biblical hysteria are associated. This is the forty-day wandering of the Jews, led by Moses, in the desert and the forty-day fast of Christ after baptism and the 40 days that Noah sailed on his boat during the Flood. There are other, not far-fetched, justifications why it is impossible for men to celebrate 40 years.

Religious and esoteric justifications for the ban

According to the numerology of Tarot cards, the number 4 is a sign of death, and fortunetellers believe that the number 40 increases the likelihood of death by ten times. There is a certain logic in this explanation, but it is completely incomprehensible why there is no ban on the celebration of the forty-fourth anniversary.

According to some historians, the ban on celebrating forty years comes from ancient times, when a person rarely lived to see a half-century anniversary, and by his fortieth birthday he could not successfully engage in fishing, hunting, or farming and passed into the category of dependents. Some tribes had a tradition of killing old people who had just turned forty, but they were no longer capable of socially useful work.

The most adequate and logical explanation for this prohibition is the belief that has come down to the present day from the depths of antiquity and the Middle Ages. In those days, forty years were considered the peak of spiritual and physical development, after which the intellect and physical abilities began to fade. It was useless to mark this milestone, because according to religious prejudices, after the onset of forty years, the guardian angel of the man left him without guiding him on the true path, believing that the experience gained would be a substitute for divine providence. Despite some "tightness" of this argument, it has a certain logic. However, there is no factual or historical information that the solemn celebration of the fortieth birthday did any harm to the hero of the day.

However, most of the stronger sex, even those who know for sure why men should not celebrate 40 years old. The main ones are:

• explain the solemn celebration by celebrating the departure of 39 years;
• hold a solemn feast the day after the anniversary, when the man "knocks" 40 years and one day;
• do not explain to the guests the reason for the feast;
• an ideal option when the fortieth anniversary coincides with some (even the most insignificant) holiday - in this case, the holiday is an occasion for a solemn event.

Many people do not celebrate 40 years and do not advise others to do so. Is this superstition, or does the prohibition have a scientific, religious or some other basis?

Mysticism and numerology

More than 20 centuries ago, the ancient Pythagoreans deeply revered the number "4", considered it a sacred reflection of completeness, integrity, corporeality and static (the opposite of dynamism and cyclicity). The number "forty" is a quadruple supplemented by zero (a circle describing Tetractys) - a symbol of divine emptiness and completeness.

Based on this theory, many superstitious people associate the completion of the number 40 with the end of life and believe that 40 years should not be celebrated, because this can bring death closer.

Superstitious inhabitants of East and Central Asia consider the number "4" fatal, bringing misfortune and death. Therefore, in these countries, the four and the numbers that include it (14, 24, and so on) are trying to skip something when numbering.

In the ancient fortune-telling cards "Tarot" with the number "40" a similar situation can be traced - the death card itself, according to the interpretation, means the grave, death, damage, destruction and is associated with black. The death card in the Tarot corresponds to the Latin letter "M", the twelfth hexagram of the Chinese book of changes, meaning "decline", the ancient Slavic letter "Thought", which is associated with the transition to a new stage of life and death (end) of the old stage.

But besides all this, the letter from the Tarot card in the Hebrew alphabet is read as "Mem" and has a numerical value of 40, and in combination with the last letter of the alphabet "Tav" forms the word "Met", which again means "death" in translation.

Often, in confirmation of these mystical superstitions, African tribes are cited as an example, in which it is still not customary to celebrate forty years for the same reasons, but, despite this, the average life expectancy in these tribes is just 40 years. The reason for this is not the celebration of a birthday, but poor hygiene, ecology and living conditions of the inhabitants of the tribes.

Religious superstitions

In the Christian religion, the number "40" is also associated by many with death and misfortune. It is believed that it was 40 days that the great flood lasted, for forty days Moses led the Jews through the desert and forty days after his baptism Jesus Christ was in the desert, and the desert itself is also a symbol of death. In addition, in the Middle Ages in Kievan Rus, it was on the 40th day that the incorruptibility and holiness of relics were determined.

Some people say that you shouldn't celebrate 40 years because of the association with the fortieth day after death, which is usually a wake. It is believed that after 40 days of wandering the earth, the soul of the deceased appears before the court, after which he goes to heaven or hell.

Therefore, many believe that by the age of 40 there comes a turning point in a person’s life, self-consciousness changes and, according to some statements, by this age a person’s guardian angel even leaves. And, in order not to incur premature death and suffering, one should rethink one's actions and abandon magnificent festivities, including those about one's upcoming anniversary.

There is also a version, rooted in paganism, that by the age of 40 a person's biorhythms change and at this age he can easily be jinxed or damaged. Therefore, it is recommended to celebrate the fortieth birthday in a quiet family or friendly circle, among people who obviously cannot wish harm to the birthday man.

A similar pagan superstition holds that the recommendations for a modest celebration of the fortieth anniversary apply only to men, because the pagans considered a woman to be a creature without a soul. According to another version of the same superstition in women, the period of change in biorhythms begins at the age of 53, and it is recommended that this particular birthday be celebrated modestly.

Astrological arguments

Some astrologers consider the forty-year life milestone a crisis and argue that in the period from 39 to 43 years a person is most susceptible to the influence of the planet Uranus, which becomes in opposition to its position on the natal chart (Uranus opposes Uranus), this position brings with it sudden changes and cardinal changes. changes in a person's life. During this period, there is a reassessment of values, awareness of one's own place in life, at work and in the family.

The negative influence of Uranus can manifest itself in a sharp deterioration in financial well-being, bankruptcy, accidents, disasters, family crises, nervous breakdowns, sudden illnesses, paralysis and a person's tendency to commit suicide.

Astrologers say that a person aged 39-40 years has a strong negative influence from Pluto, which can manifest itself in the same way as the influence of Uranus, in bankruptcy and a sharp sudden deterioration in health. In addition, there is an opinion that the beginning of the fortieth anniversary corresponds to the square of Neptune to Neptune, which indicates a change in life orientations and erratic throwing.

There is also a version of an unknown astrologer who compiled the horoscope of Jesus, according to which it turns out that they crucified Christ at the age of 40. Therefore, astrologers recommend celebrating the fortieth anniversary calmly and quietly so that the midlife crisis passes just as quietly and safely.