The word “Hours” probably originates from the Egyptian “Horus”, the “sun god”.
Horus the sun took twelve steps each day to reach it’s high point at 12 o’clock.
Our society takes its pulse from Horus.
A clock dial has 12 hours.
There are 12 months in a year.
There are 12 planets.
There were 12 Apostles.
Juries are made of 12 people.
We use the word “a dozen” for 12 but don’t have similar summaries for other numbers.
School goes from grades 1 to 12.
Christmas is 12 days.
There are 12 signs in the western Zodiac.
There are 12 signs in the Chinese Zodiac.
There are 12 primary Gods in ancient Greece.
There are 12 tribes of Israel.
Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate 12 Great Feasts
In Hinduism, the sun god Surya has 12 names.
The Heart Chakra has 12 petals.
There are 12 stars on the Flag of Europe
In music 12 is the number of major keys and the number of minor keys.
What does it all mean, if anything? I like to look at the practical use of things.
I think it could mean that the Universe is set up in a way that 12 forms a perfect circle. A perfect group size. When Judas fell out of favor with the Apostles, they needed to get someone else to fill the 12. So Apostle Matthias joined the group. The number 13, which is a slight deviation from 12, is considered “bad luck”.
Personally, I’ve never paid attention to whether a group has 11, 12 or 13 members. I always considered this kind of thinking “superstitious” or “just another thought, just another human-made limitation”.
But I could be wrong…
