Singaporeans mark 08/08/08 in several ways
SINGAPORE : For many Chinese, 08/08/08 is the luckiest date on the Gregorian calendar, and it comes once every 100 years.
So many Singaporeans are not letting August 8 slip by.
Isaac Cheng is one lucky baby. Mother Nature ensured he arrived exactly
8 minutes after midnight - with no medical inducement or intervention -
on 8 August 2008.
Many Chinese find the date 08/08/08 particularly auspicious because
the Chinese words for "eight" and "to prosper" sound the same.
So hospitals braced themselves for a baby bonanza on this special day.
Some hospitals, such as Singapore General Hospital, saw more than their
usual number of deliveries.
Thomson Medical Centre, where Isaac was born, expects to see about 50 births on Friday, double their daily average.
The Parkway Group of hospitals - Gleneagles, Mount Elizabeth and
East Shore - also received a higher number of Caesarean section
requests.
Some mothers timed their Caesarean sections for 8am, while others tried to induce delivery to catch the lucky date.
Channel NewsAsia understands only one baby in the country managed
to hit the bulls-eye, and was born at at 8.08am - at Thomson Medical
Centre.
As for Isaac - given the timing of his birth - he may have quite a
lot to live up to, but his parents are taking it one step at a time.
His father Cheng Wee Han said: "Definitely he has to work hard for
his own life, but if he has some luck along the way, I think that will
be a good thing for him."
Meanwhile, hopeful punters also tried their luck, queuing up for a shot at the top prize in the S$8 million national lottery.
The lucky date was also favoured by over 300 couples, even though
August coincides with the Seventh Lunar Month or the Hungry Ghost
Festival, seen by many Chinese as an inauspicious time for weddings.
One couple said: "Surprisingly when we went to the temple (to ask)
- under strict orders from our parents - it happened to be quite
beneficial to us, to our advantage. On that particular day, we could
get married."
For those who like playing the numbers game, the next golden date
for weddings is 9 September 2009. And hotels have said they are being
booked up fast. - CNA/ms