Who came up with the idea of ​​not celebrating 40 years? Is it possible or not to celebrate a woman’s fortieth birthday?

Many Slavs do not celebrate their fortieth birthday. They consider celebrating such an anniversary a bad omen. And these are the reasons why such superstitions arose. Today, together with you, we will find the answer to the question: why you can’t celebrate 40 years.

Fatal number

In Orthodoxy, the number 40 appears here and there, and not always in good quality. The Great Flood lasted 40 days. Moses wandered with the Israelites for 40 years in the desert. Jesus also spent 40 days in the desert. This number is also associated with the rites of death and birth. After giving birth (within 40 days), a woman is considered unclean, she is even forbidden to go to church.

On the 40th day after death, the souls of the deceased appear before God's judgment. And at the beginning of the development of Christianity, the deceased were checked on the 40th day; if the body had not begun to decompose and the person’s righteousness was known, he could be considered a saint. It is still forbidden to show infants (up to 40 days) to strangers. However, church representatives say that the fear of the number 40 is simply a superstition and has nothing to do with religion.

Number 4 as a symbol of death

Since the number 40 consists of two digits 4 and 0, signs related to the number 4 are also included in the number 40. For many eastern peoples, this number is a symbol of death. And even when looking for an answer to a question, in numerology they try to avoid choosing wedding dates that give a sum of 4. When laying out Thoreau cards, when you get the major lasso (corresponding to the number 4) with the letter M, this promises death. And the letter “Mem - meaning death” of the Hebrew alphabet corresponds to the number 40.

Old age limit - 40 years

In the Middle Ages, people rarely lived to be 40 years old (disease, famine, wars) and those who lived to this date were already considered old; in those days, even the word “forty” itself meant “term.” Of course, now people live twice as long, but the trace remains and esotericists claim that celebrating the 40th anniversary seems to be hastening old age and death. By the way, birthdays as such were not celebrated in Rus'. A much more important holiday was “name day” - the day of the angel. The day of veneration of the saint whose name the person bore. And birthdays in Russia began to be celebrated only in the 19th century, first this tradition was instilled in aristocratic families, and then among ordinary people.

For the same reason, celebrating a 40th birthday is considered a bad omen for both men and women. A man (according to legend) who celebrates his 40th birthday on a grand scale may not live to reach 50 at all. And for women, this is generally the limit after which gradual physiological aging begins. After 40 years, the body’s biorhythms change and menopause approaches. The first wrinkles and gray hairs begin to appear. Naturally, for the fair sex this is a slightly sad date, which does not make them particularly happy.

Astrological unfavorable period

Astrologers say that after 40 years, the planets Uranus and Pluto begin to have a great influence on our lives. This influence brings with it radical changes or events, sometimes negative. During this period, crises (for example, the so-called midlife crisis), financial problems, serious illnesses, accidents or even divorces (marital breakdown) are common. A midlife crisis is not an easy time at all; a person’s life priorities may begin to change; in search of new ones, a person begins to rush around and make mistakes, or, on the contrary, fall into apathy. Naturally, people are afraid of this morally difficult period. Which is actually not surprising.

What about the 40th anniversary of other nations?

Everything is completely different here. For example, in European countries (England, Sweden) they have not heard at all about superstitions associated with celebrating the 40th anniversary. In Japan, on the contrary, they do not celebrate any birthdays in which the number four is present, since for them this number is a symbol of death. It is traditionally not customary for Muslims to celebrate this date, since it means putting themselves above Allah. Although modern Muslims still celebrate birthdays, they do so only with family, without alcohol or music.

So should we celebrate or not?

What should people do who are afraid to celebrate such a milestone date? Bioenergy experts say:

• Make a holiday only for those closest to you and on a small scale;
• Agree that no one mentions out loud how old you are;
• It is not necessary to celebrate an anniversary on your birthday; move it to another date and the sign will no longer work.

These tricks will help minimize the risk. But, in principle, it’s up to you to decide whether Europeans celebrate and, according to statistics, live longer than us. And troubles can happen to us regardless of age. There is even a theory that thoughts are material. What we think about is what we attract to ourselves.

In contact with

Almost every man approaching the age of forty is sure to be surprised to learn from those around him that this anniversary cannot be celebrated. Bad omen. And, what’s most interesting, no one can really explain the essence of this sign. No wonder this is one of the most popular queries in search engines on the World Wide Web.

To avoid causing misfortune...

By browsing through the links, you can find many stories from life about how people gave up on a sign, cheerfully noted it - and as a result brought misfortune upon themselves. Visitors to the forums willingly tell stories from their lives - about how a lady invited guests, received a bunch of gifts, and one gift turned out to be a “surprise” - with severe damage, which the lady could not get rid of for a long time. Or about how a certain married couple celebrated their wife’s anniversary in a restaurant, and from there she was taken away in an ambulance - problems with blood pressure. Or about how a man was getting ready to go on a long business trip on the eve of his anniversary, the whole family tearfully asked him not to celebrate, but his colleagues insisted, and the man celebrated, after which... his finger seemed to be dislocated.

However, there are no less stories about how someone didn’t celebrate, but he was still not happy.

“My aunt just didn’t want to celebrate her fortieth birthday,” says one forum visitor. - Celebrated thirty-nine years on a grand scale, arguing that there would be no holiday next year. And what do you think - four days later I had an accident! There is also a very sad case - a man did not live exactly one day until his planned anniversary. It seems like they didn’t notice it, but still some kind of sediment remained...

In contrast to these gloomy stories, there are a lot of stories about grandparents and great-grandmothers, for whom the anniversary feast did not prevent them from happily living into their eighties and nineties.

Historical background

As usual, how many people - so many opinions. Who should you listen to? And why can’t we celebrate 40 years?

Let us repeat that the ban on celebrating the fortieth anniversary is one of the most mysterious and unfounded. This superstition is most likely due to the fact that the number forty is sacred in many cultures. It had a special meaning among the ancient Jews, for example. Let's open the Bible - it is found there all the time: Moses led the Jews through the desert for forty years, the Great Flood lasted forty days, Jesus spent forty days in the desert after baptism... Our Slavic ancestors also treated the number forty with respect - there is an opinion that The number system was based on it. Let us remember the forty forty Moscow churches, for example: not thirty thirty... Many rituals associated with birth and death were tied to the number 40. For example, a child could not be shown to strangers for forty days after his birth. On the fortieth day after death, the deceased was remembered for the last time: it was believed that his soul on this day finally said goodbye to the earthly world. Until the forties they say, when mentioning the deceased: “May he rest in peace,” after: “The kingdom of heaven to him.”

And in Kievan Rus, at the dawn of Christianity, there was an interesting custom of checking the body of the deceased precisely on the fortieth day. If the deceased led a righteous life and showed signs of incorruptibility, the question of his canonization could arise. Perhaps the association with forty posthumous days is the main reason why forty years cannot be celebrated. Although, according to this logic, it is not recommended for a child to celebrate his 9th birthday, we have not heard about this anywhere.

Some esotericists cite numerology and Tarot cards as an argument. In fact, in Eastern magic, 40 is the number of death. Or rather, not 40, but 4, but according to numerological laws this is practically the same thing: 4 + 0 = 4. In the Tarot, the main Arcana “Death” has the letter “M”, and the letter “Mem” of the Hebrew alphabet exactly corresponds to the number 40. All this, of course, is interesting, but it is unlikely that our grandmothers, who supported the tradition with the arguments “If you celebrate forty, you won’t live to see fifty!” had an idea about Tarot cards...

Only for men?..

Perhaps this superstition has a very practical basis. Let us remember that the life expectancy of our ancestors was not so long compared to ours: after forty years a person was considered to have already lived a fair amount of time, reaching almost old age (the general standard of living was lower, and medicine was not up to par). It turns out that anything could have happened to him, and his general weakening of health contributed to this. The body began to age - hair and teeth fell out, diseases appeared that a forty-year-old body could no longer cope with so well... Celebrating forty years meant saying hello to impending old age and, possibly, death, which could very well be looming. It was better not to remind such a guest of her age. According to one of the superstitions, a guardian angel completely abandoned a person at the age of forty, leaving him without the highest protection.

What’s interesting is that, as a rule, it was about men. In recent years, women have also stopped celebrating their fortieth birthday, but initially this ban did not concern them at all. Perhaps this is an echo of early Christian beliefs, which generally denied a woman the presence of a soul.

The modern Orthodox Church considers this custom to be complete nonsense. The priests say that one can still somehow understand and support a person’s reluctance to celebrate 33 years (the age of Christ), but one should not think that if one does organize a holiday, one can incur some kind of troubles and suffering on oneself: such things are not may offend higher powers. As for the number 40, in the same Bible there are quite a lot of joyful or neutral events associated with it: King David, for example, reigned for forty years - is this good or bad?.. The width of the temple built by Solomon was forty cubits - is this related to death?.. After his resurrection, Christ stayed on earth for forty days, trampling down death by death and giving people new hope. So the position of the Orthodox Church on this issue is clear: any superstition is evil, sin and temptation.

Protection measures

Over a long time, people have developed many ways to somehow protect themselves and circumvent any sacred prohibition. There is a lot of “good advice”: celebrate not forty years, but forty years and one day, celebrate the passing of the thirty-ninth year, celebrate within the walls of your home (which, as you know, help), celebrate among relatives and friends who cannot wish nothing bad for the hero of the day... If turning 40 is of great importance to you, you can take advantage of one of these loopholes with peace of mind. But we should not forget that superstitions “work” only with those who seriously believe in it. Weak people tend to look for someone to blame for all their troubles - they got up on the wrong foot, combed their hair in the wrong direction, and so on. The black cat and the empty buckets, the anniversary celebrated at the wrong time and the service not given from the heart are to blame. But still, if you have really and seriously been racking your brains for several days now over the question “why can’t we celebrate 40 years,” then it’s better not to really celebrate this ambiguous date and not to spoil the holiday for yourself and your loved ones with doubts and torment.

The most favorite holidays among our compatriots have always been and remain “New Year” and “Birthday”. For many decades, this has not only been an excellent reason to gather all your family and friends at one table twice a year, but also a reason to receive and give gifts.

ANDthen it turns out that for some reason 40 years cannot be celebrated. So why did people decide that it was bad, why you can’t celebrate your 40th birthday?

They say that if you celebrate 40 years noisily and on a grand scale, the birthday person will be haunted by misfortunes.

Why you can't celebrate 40 years

Church response

As you know, in Christianity the number “40” plays a special role:

1. The soul of the deceased walks on the Earth for 40 days - that is why they commemorate it on the 40th day, that is, they see off the soul;
2. The Great Flood lasted 40 days;
3. For 40 days, Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection;
4. For 40 days, Jesus prayed in the desert after his baptism, being tempted by Satan;
5. The Jewish people wandered in the desert for 40 years before finding happiness in the Promised Land.

One way or another, such events elevate the number “40” to a special rank, where it is more associated with suffering and death. Although some of the listed events can be interpreted in different ways (that is, on the positive side).

Advice! If you are eager to celebrate your 40th birthday on a grand scale, but are still a religious person, visit the church in advance and ask Father how the church views the celebration of forty years. Everything should immediately fall into place!

Psychology

Psychologists have their own answer to the question of why people don’t celebrate their 40th birthday. For many, this is a kind of milestone in a person’s life, which divides it into before and after.
At this age, both men and women change their goals and priorities. A person becomes wiser and reconsiders his life views and values. In order not to “go off” the right path and choose the right road, it is not recommended to organize grandiose feasts. By the way, Wikipedia has a similar opinion!

Why can't men celebrate their 40th birthday?

You may have heard more than once that for some reason it is men who do not celebrate their 40th birthday. This is connected precisely with how men feel at a new age, take stock of their lives and set new priorities. In addition, there is an opinion that it is after 40 years of age that health begins to deteriorate.

Conduct a short survey among your forty-year-old friends, asking them the question: “Why isn’t a man celebrating his 40th birthday?” But keep in mind that this is purely individual, and you should not take everything upon yourself.

Why don't women celebrate their 40th birthday?

Why women cannot celebrate their 40th birthday is still a mystery. There are no compelling arguments, and it can only be explained by the fact that in the modern world the rights of women and men have become equal, and women, in principle, at the age of 40 experience the same feelings as men. That is, they look back at all their “baggage” and experience, draw conclusions and prepare for a new stage of life.

By the way, it is at this time that both men and women very often experience a “midlife crisis.” Presumably, this is due to the fact that in ancient times, due to the lack of high-quality medicine and technology, a person at 40 years old was considered almost old age. Accordingly, teeth and hair began to fall out, and overall health deteriorated.

Times have changed, now as Katya Tikhomirova, the heroine of the film “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears,” said:

“At 40, life is just beginning.”

And it pleases. But in the subconscious there still remains the thought that 4 whole decades have already been lived. And who wants to grow old? That's right, no one.
This is probably one of the most logical explanations why women do not celebrate their 40th birthday.

Advice! It all depends on your desire and mood. In principle, for an ordinary person, the “Birthday” holiday itself is a positive charge of emotions and a desire for new horizons. So you can also argue whether it’s good or bad!

Superstitions 40 years

Superstitions, and how to relate to them depends only on you.
Until now, most of humanity would prefer to wait to cross the road that a black cat has just crossed, or look in the mirror if they had to return home.

If you didn’t know, superstitions are not approved by the Church, and moreover, they are considered a sin. Therefore, it is worth considering whether you should believe these pagan sayings.

Advice! In this case, you should make an informed choice whether you want to organize a holiday for yourself, your family and friends, or skip this holiday for your own peace of mind.

Why can't 40th birthdays be celebrated in Japan?

The country where the most terrible interpretation of the number “40”, and indeed any meanings where the number “4” is present, is Japan. This is due to the fact that in Japanese the words “four” and “death” are very consonant. Therefore, the Japanese try not to celebrate any dates with the number “4” at all.

It is also known that in Tarot fortune telling the number “4” is also a sign of death. No such coincidences were observed in other countries.

Advice! Don't go to Japan to celebrate your 40th birthday! And avoid fortune telling.

What to do if you still really want to celebrate 40 years?

There are some interesting tips:

• For example, you can celebrate your 39th birthday or throw a party under the slogan “2 times 20.”
• Also, very often a birthday falls in the middle of the work week, and nothing prevents you from celebrating it a day or two later, thereby protecting yourself from various superstitions. In this case, be sure to warn your guests so that they congratulate you not on a round date, but, for example, on 40 years and 1 day. And rest assured that the holiday will be even more fun and interesting due to your originality.
• Most importantly, celebrate your birthday only at home, and with loved ones, so that your native energy does not allow misfortunes and any other negativity to approach you

If you are a superstitious person, but you still want to celebrate your birthday, and now you are tossed around in doubts and suddenly at the last moment you decide to invite guests, throughout the entire holiday you will be haunted by thoughts of “what if something happens...”.
And you can rest assured that it will definitely happen. And why all? Only because you have configured yourself this way, that is, you have programmed your brain to expect something bad. And no matter what happens, even if it’s some kind of nonsense, you will attribute it precisely to your very unlucky fortieth birthday.

Video

Especially for a more complete immersion in the question of why it is impossible to celebrate 40 years, they talk in detail in the video material, attention:

Conclusion

Whether or not to celebrate your 40th birthday is entirely your decision. If you never give up on your holiday, but if doubts arise in your heart, be sure to use our advice.

I hope now you understand and can tell me why 40th birthdays are not celebrated? And finally: You should not pay attention to superstitions, they have no basis. There is something more important in the life of every person - traditions. They can be old Russian, they can be family and passed on from generation to generation. Or you can create them yourself. This is elementary, for example, Sunday evenings with the whole family at a round table, trips to places that are significant to you, cooking “Goose in Apples” for Christmas or making dumplings with the whole family. Joy is in the little things and we create them with our own hands.
Leave everything negative out of reach and continue to live only with positive emotions!

It’s a shame that all other anniversaries are celebrated on a grand scale, but the fortieth year of birth is recommended to be ignored altogether, and for what reason, no one can really explain. This date is especially dangerous for representatives of the stronger sex. So why men should not celebrate their 40th birthday will be discussed in this article.

Why is it not customary to celebrate the date of 40 years?

Indeed, a date is like a date, middle age, when you can sum up some results and make a lot of plans for the years ahead, but come on, someone will definitely say that his aunt, uncle or friend, after celebrating such an anniversary, fell into accident, lost your job, separated from your wife, or even worse. It can be suggested that such a superstition is rooted in ancient times, because the expression: “If you celebrate 40, you won’t live to see 50” has been around for decades. The number 40 is sacred and revered in many cultures. In the Bible, mention of it occurs at least three times: for 40 years, the Jews led by Moses walked through the desert, the Great Flood lasted 40 days, and Jesus ended up in the desert for 40 days after baptism.

Both then and today it is believed that it is on the 40th day that the soul of the deceased flies to the place of its last stay, saying goodbye to the earthly world. There is an opinion that it was this figure that formed the basis of the number system, and in eastern magic it acts as the number of death. And even though we are talking about the number 4, but according to the laws of numerology it is one and the same. In the Tarot, the major arcana "Death" is represented by the letter "M", and in the Hebrew alphabet it corresponds to the number 40. This should clarify the situation a little for those who want to know whether men celebrate their 40th birthday. Such a “tie” on this figure of many beliefs and traditions associated with death cannot but worry and strain, as they say today.

Why can’t we celebrate 40 years according to the church?

It must be said that the church condemns all these superstitions and prejudices, as well as all the others, such as the black cat, etc. More One can understand the reluctance of the birthday boy to celebrate 33 years - the age at which Christ was when he was crucified, but there are no opinions regarding the subsequent anniversary. However, especially superstitious people who do not want to give up celebrating such a date do not celebrate 40 years, but can celebrate 40 years and one day. Or get together with loved ones and relatives and have a blast, saying goodbye to the passing year of 1939. Be that as it may, it all depends on how the hero of the day himself relates to this superstition and what he is in the mood for.

Optimistic people who go through life with a smile will shrug their shoulders and do as their heart tells them. Pessimists will blame the ill-fated holiday organized on the occasion of the 40th anniversary for all subsequent failures.

Birthday, although sad, is a holiday. And the heart waits, and the soul sings, and friends know. But now, the milestone of the fortieth birthday is approaching, and doubt is slowly creeping in whether it is worth celebrating 40 years. These are superstitions and prejudices. Many will say so, but not those who have to decide to celebrate the “fateful” day. Many superstitions of the past have already sunk into the river of oblivion, but some of them have taken root. These include the “forbidden” anniversary. And the question, as the cherished date approaches, is acute. Moreover, the question concerns men, since in time immemorial, from where the veto leaked, a woman as a person was not taken into account. In the era of early Christianity, a woman was considered soulless, “without a soul.” Only relatively recently did women also boycott the fortieth anniversary. Well, let’s try to look deeper for the origins of the “bad” omen.

What will history say?

History believes that a man’s 40th birthday is not celebrated only because in ancient times life expectancy was that long. And the forty-year-old man was already a decrepit, gray-haired, toothless old man, as they say “with one foot in the grave.” And the birthday celebration was already unnecessary and meaningless. An elderly man celebrating an anniversary seemed to be inviting death to himself at ritual games.

In addition, the word “forty” itself is sometimes interpreted in sources as two. “Litter” and “rock” - fatal fate, weedy, dirty.

What does numerology say?

In ancient Slavic culture, many rituals for life and death are associated with the number forty.

Numerology believes this is not without reason. The number 4 means death, and the number 40 is interpreted as 4+0=4 - death.

In Tarot divination cards, the "death" card has the letter "M" (mem), which corresponds to forty in the Hebrew alphabet.

Numerologists do not like the number 40, it brings the death date closer, calls to the person, so celebration is considered inappropriate.

There is a belief that a guardian angel leaves a man when he reaches the age of forty. The life wisdom accumulated by this age is the limit, the line between life and death.

What will the Bible say?

In biblical stories there are most associations with the number 40, associations associated with torment and deprivation.

Moses led the people through the desert for 40 years

The Flood lasted 40 days

Jesus spent 40 days in the desert after Baptism

40 days before Jesus' ascension after resurrection

Since biblical stories are associated with men, superstitions are “masculine in color.”

What will the church say?

The Church considers the question of why a man’s 40th birthday is not celebrated to be unfounded and without any religious background. The church considers any superstition a sin. Although, on the eve of the fortieth anniversary, only a few people turn to the church with such a question. Others prefer to look for answers in other sources.

What will the foreign countries say?

The closest to us in spirit, in terms of superstitions, are the eastern countries. There you can always find a response to our signs. Japan considers the number 4 generally bad, meaning not only age. And it’s so global that elevators often don’t have a button for the fourth floor. Many Japanese people do not watch channels containing four on TV.

What will psychology say?

Psychologists usually disagree with superstitions. When asked why a man’s 40th birthday is not celebrated, the usual answer is that this is a personal matter for everyone. But psychology is a science, and all superstitions are rather born from legends, tales, traditions, often exaggerated. Therefore, a psychologist is more likely to help answer the question of how to celebrate 40 years without prejudice.

Should we celebrate 40 years?

An anniversary is a long-awaited holiday; people prepare for it in advance and look forward to it. Superstitious people may not celebrate this date and will not be at all upset. Rather, on the contrary, they will be happy and calm. But if there is such a need, you can celebrate 40 years and one day or 39 years and 1 year, so as not to bring trouble to your head. People who are skeptical about this kind of prejudice are not worried about this. But they need to be prepared to confront relatives and friends who are unfriendly towards the “fateful” date.