While some people might be honoring today as Veterans Day, for the numerically-minded and superstitious, today is also a once-in-a-century event - 11/11/11.
Across the world, people are attributing all sorts of meanings to the day. In China, many are celebrating 11/11/11 as "Singles Day." The idea being that all those 1s in the date are symbolic of people who are on their own.
Aficionados of fabrics are marking today for a completely different reason. To them, it's Corduroy Appreciation Day. Apparently 11/11/11 is the date whose numbers most closely resemble the lines on the ribbed cloth.
Some companies are even getting in on the act. Ezaki Glico, a popular Japanese snack company, is celebrating today as Pocky & Pretz Day. Pocky are skinny, stick-shaped cookies, while similarly shaped Pretz have a flavor and texture more like pretzels. Like corduroy, they are said to resemble to vertical lines of 11/11/11.
KFC, whose fried chicken famously features 11 herbs and spices, also is celebrating. Beginning at 11:11 a.m. today, the company will give away a year's supply of chicken to 11 people who follow the company on Twitter each hour for 11 hours.
While a date like today's comes along only once in a hundred years, Lin Humphrey, a retired Citrus College professor of English and folklore, said hullabaloo over unusual
dates is common.
Something about human psychology drives us to find meaning in things that are otherwise meaningless - a phenomenon known as apophenia, Humphrey said.
"We like cause and effect, so these numbers must mean something," Humphrey said. "Human beings hate to say `I don't know.' They've always made up stories and reasons because they hate to say it."
Humphrey couldn't think of anything particularly lucky about the number 11 from a folklore perspective, but that hasn't stopped many people from believing today will somehow be auspicious.
Mirta Morchon, manager of the Madonna Wedding Chapel on Peck Road in El Monte, said they are almost completely booked today. On a normal Friday, they do about two weddings. Today, it's more like eight, with the first being held at 11 a.m.
"They're hoping it's going to be a lucky beginning to a lucky day," Morchon said.
Usually the chapel is busiest on Valentine's Day, Morchon said, but there are occasional exceptions for unusual dates.
The California Lottery is expecting heightened interest for tonight's Mega Millions drawing, said spokesman Alex Traverso.
Traverso said sales figures for tonight's lottery wouldn't be available until Monday, but if sales are higher, it would fit with previous trends.
On July 7, 2007, or 7/7/7, ticket sales for Super Lotto Plus were 50 percent higher than normal, Traverso said. On Aug. 8, 2008, an especially lucky day in Chinese culture, sales were up 10 percent.
Tonight's payout - $22 million - is itself a multiple of 11. Traverso wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
"I'm sure everyone likes to find a little hook here and there," he said with a laugh.
Not everyone's buying the hype though, including Kate Uwnawich, also known as the San Marino Psychic.
At her office on San Marino Avenue and Huntington Drive on Thursday, Uwnawich said astrologists see nothing special about today, despite the fears of some of her customers.
"All of my regular clients ... have been wanting to come in," Uwnawich said. "I'm assuring everyone that everyone's going to be fine. The sky's not falling, we're not going to have aliens land, and Tom Cruise is going to save us."
That aside, Uwnawich said the day will be what people choose to make of it.
"Whoever is getting married or buying a lottery ticket, I wish them well," she said.
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