Over the ages, people have attributed many facts to numbers.
Numerology, superstition, important dates, and so many other things cling to various numbers, which in some cases gives them great significance!
Today let’s take a look at nineteen fun facts about the number 19!
The number 19 is the eighth prime number. Prime numbers are special mathematical numbers that can only be divided by themselves of the number one.
In 1966 the Rolling Stones wrote a hit song called “19th Nervous Breakdown.” This wildly successful song ranked second place on both US and UK charts.
The atomic number for the chemical element potassium is 19. It belongs to the first group on the periodic table of elements and the other alkali elements such as sodium and lithium. At room temperature, potassium has a dull silvery white appearance and can be cut easily with a knife.
The number 19, when in the form of Roman Numerals, is written as XIX, which is a palindrome (something that reads the same when read backward). It’s also the largest of the prime numbers that are a palindrome when written as a Roman numeral.
The 19th card of the Major Arcana tarot cards is referred to as The Sun. Within tarot card reading, this joyful and cheery card adds an element of positivity to the reading. It’s connected with success, happiness, and freedom.
The popular East Asian board game Go (also known as i-go in Chinese, or baduk in Korean) is played on a 19 by 19 square grid. The board itself is called the goban, and the game is played with 180 white and 181 black pieces. Go is a highly complex game that requires great strategical skills. The game itself was invented some 4,000 years ago, making it the oldest board game in the world.
British musician Paul Hardcastle released a song in 1985 titled 19. The song carried a strong anti-war sentiment, particularly focused on the United States of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. It was an instant success, staying at the top of the UK charts for five whole weeks. While popular in many countries, it only ever ranked at number 15 in US charts.
It takes approximately 19 years for the lunar phases of the Moon to appear again on the same day of the year. For example, the Moon was full on August 15th in both the years 2000 and 2019. This cycle of about 19 years is called the Metonic Cycle.
On November 9, 2008, Anita Schwarz was awarded the Guinness World Record for the most beer steins carried over 131.3 feet (40 meters) by a woman. Hailing from Mesenich, Germany, Anita was able to carry 19 steins without dropping a single one.
There are 19 calories in a tablespoon of cinnamon. I’m not sure why you would want to eat a tablespoon of cinnamon in the first place – but at least it’s not that unhealthy!
In 2008 British musician Adele released an album titled 19. The album, which was at the top of Billboard’s Catalog Albums chart for ten out of 11 weeks, was titled as such because Adele was just 19 when it was released.
If you’re speaking rapidly and without pause, you could be described as talking 19 to the dozen. The meaning behind the expression is that one who talks this way is speaking 19 words in the time it would normally take to speak 12 words.
The number 19 is scattered all-throughout Stephen King’s epic eight-book series titled The Dark Tower. Without giving too much away, it is constantly referenced in important yet mysterious ways. You’ll only have to read it to find out more!
On January 12, 1998, a group of nineteen European nations signed an international agreement that banned the cloning of humans. This was the first instance of human cloning being banned by any national or international agreement. The nineteen countries were Turkey, Sweden, Spain, Slovenia, San Marino, Romania, Portugal, Norway, Moldova, Macedonia, Luxembourg, Latvia, Italy, Iceland, Greece, France, Finland, Estonia, and Denmark.
In most provinces of Canada, you’re allowed to purchase alcohol from the age of 19 legally. If you live in Quebec, Manitoba, or Alberta, you’re legally allowed to purchase it a little earlier at 18 years of age.
Speaking of alcohol, Maker’s Mark whiskey also has a connection to the number 19. This whiskey is made in much smaller batches than other large-scale distilleries. Each batch is always claimed to be no more than 19 barrels.
On August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment to the United States of America’s constitution was passed into law. This amendment gave women the right to vote and had actually been introduced to congress more than twenty years earlier, in 1878!
The infamous Salem witch trials took place for over one year in the Massachusetts colony in the late 17th Mania gripped the region. Over 200 people were accused of some form of witchcraft, with thirty of them being found guilty. Of this number, 19 so-called witches were hung by the neck until dead.
There are 19 Arabic letters in the first verse of the Qur’an. Known as the Basmala, it translates into “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”. The Basmala is actually recited before all chapters of the Qur’an, except the 9th chapter, but is also sometimes considered to be the first verse of the first chapter.
Unless you live in parts of Canada, the age of 19 really doesn’t seem that significant.
That doesn’t mean that the number 19 itself isn’t interesting by itself.
We can see from Tarot cards that it’s actually quite a positive number, it’s connected to an ancient complex board game, and it’s regularly referenced by musicians!
