COUPLES all over the world, Cyprus included, are rushing to marry on Friday to take advantage of the reportedly auspicious date of 8/8/08, which is said will favour balance and prosperity.
It’s not only the Chinese government that considers eight an auspicious number and is opening the Olympics at 8.08pm on Friday, but many Britons and Israelis are rushing to Cyprus to tie the knot.
Judging by the numbers quoted yesterday by six of the island’s main municipalities, they will register a record number of civil weddings on Friday, probably over 100 in one day.
In some cases the number of scheduled weddings is more than twice the usual number, according to the municipalities who spoke to the Cyprus Mail.
Lea Costi, who is in charge of civil marriages at Paphos Municipality said they would have 17 weddings on Friday. ‘We usually have nine or ten a day,” she said. “But because it’s 8/8/08 we have more.”
Costi said the couples were mainly British. “And that’s not all,” she added. “We are fully booked from now for 9/9/09 next year. We do not even have half an hour unfilled.”
Anna Zacheou at the Ayia Napa Municipality has twelve weddings lined up for Friday compared to a normal seven or eight. The couples are mostly Israeli.
“We have had a lot of enquiries about 8/8/08 but most of the hotels are full so we couldn’t accept any more bookings,” said Zacheou. Ayia Napa is also receiving bookings already for 9/9/09.
An official at Aradippou Municipality said they have a whopping 25 weddings lined up on Friday compared to the normal daily average of ten. They are also mainly Israelis.
Limassol was short on information, saying they had not noticed any upsurge. But Larnaca will have 11 weddings compared to their usual two or three a day. “It’s mostly Israelis,” said an official there. “Cypriots don’t tend to do civil marriages.”
Even the capital has seen an upward trend for Friday. From one or two weddings a day, Nicosia Municipality will marry ten couples on Friday.
The Chinese believe the number eight is lucky because when it’s pronounced, it sounds like the Chinese word for prosperity. Also when you turn eight on its side, you get the infinity symbol.
Chinese tradition aside, numerologists say eight is known as the “great balancer” or the karmic “you reap what you sow”. They also say the real 8/8/8 would have happened 2,000 years ago since Friday is actually 8/8/2008, which changes the picture. They say this means the number contains energies from other number, mainly seven, which is not as favourable. One website said the official starting time of the Olympics contained unfavourable astrological elements, despite the combination of eights.
