Today started out pretty slowly. It was raining, the temperature was hovering right around freezing, and the whole city was enveloped in a thick fog. The sidewalks were still all icy, and I nearly fell and cracked my head open on the way to the gym at 9:00am. After several days of this dreary weather, one could be excused for feeling a bit lethargic.
But I had a great day. My workout was strong, and it's Wednesday, which means no classes--always a great day. The real clincher, though, was that I got a lucky ticket on the bus this morning. I rarely check for lucky tickets, but this morning I happened to look, and it I was holding an extremely lucky ticket.
What's a lucky ticket? Well this whole custom may have arisen because Russians are superstitious or maybe because the average Russian spends a good amount of time riding public transportation. Whatever the reason, everyone always checks their bus tickets (you always get a ticket from the conductor when you pay for your ride on the bus) for a "lucky" combination of numbers. A ticket is lucky if the first three numbers and the second three numbers add up to the same number. A lucky ticket is especially lucky if it is also a palindrome. So my ticket number, which was 202202, is really good.
What do you do with this lucky ticket? By folk tradition, you should eat it, and afterward you will have some good fortune. I once saw a sign on a trolley in Moscow reminding passengers to keep their tickets until the end of their trip and not to eat them. At the time, I was very confused about why it was important to tell people not to eat their bus tickets, but now it all makes sense. Here is a picture of my lucky ticket. And now it's time to put this whole tradition to the test....
But I had a great day. My workout was strong, and it's Wednesday, which means no classes--always a great day. The real clincher, though, was that I got a lucky ticket on the bus this morning. I rarely check for lucky tickets, but this morning I happened to look, and it I was holding an extremely lucky ticket.
What's a lucky ticket? Well this whole custom may have arisen because Russians are superstitious or maybe because the average Russian spends a good amount of time riding public transportation. Whatever the reason, everyone always checks their bus tickets (you always get a ticket from the conductor when you pay for your ride on the bus) for a "lucky" combination of numbers. A ticket is lucky if the first three numbers and the second three numbers add up to the same number. A lucky ticket is especially lucky if it is also a palindrome. So my ticket number, which was 202202, is really good.
What do you do with this lucky ticket? By folk tradition, you should eat it, and afterward you will have some good fortune. I once saw a sign on a trolley in Moscow reminding passengers to keep their tickets until the end of their trip and not to eat them. At the time, I was very confused about why it was important to tell people not to eat their bus tickets, but now it all makes sense. Here is a picture of my lucky ticket. And now it's time to put this whole tradition to the test....
That is so cool! I love these little anecdotal things that you tell us about! How did it taste? Does luck taste like germs? :) Russian traditions are so curious to me! How prevalent are superstitions in contemporary Russian culture, do you think the prevalence of these superstitions lessened because of the Soviet legacy or no?
ReplyDeleteIt tasted like germy paper haha. Russia is definitely a very superstitious place--I'll have to think about how the Soviet legacy impacted those old beliefs. It probably lessened them, but they are definitely still prevalent. People like to say that they don't really believe them, but they still follow them because "why tempt fate."
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