With a crush of marriages, a rush to buy lucky lottery tickets and prayers for peace and oneness, people world-wide marked Friday's once-per-century 11/11/11 lineup with humour, hope and a hint of mischief. Couples from Shanghai to Jakarta to Moscow to Las Vegas flocked to registry offices and chapels to marry on Friday in the belief that the "11/11/11" date is among the most auspicious in a century - and competition was fierce to lock in a wedding ceremony reservation at the magic hour of 11:11.
Hotel manager Li Xue, 26, originally planned to marry in February next year, but she brought forward her plans because of the special day. "We are getting married on the day of 'six ones'. We will no longer be single on the once-in-a-century singles' day," she told AFP, noting China's unofficial "singles day" is celebrated on November 11.
Thousands were trying their luck at married life in Las Vegas, with several chapels in Sin City packed to the rafters as lovebirds sought the chance to marry on such a memorable date. "We started this morning at 6:30 am, and it's at least 150 (weddings) or maybe more by the end of the day," said an employee at the Little Church of the West who identified herself as Candice.
About 3,200 marriage license applications were filed for this week in Las Vegas, three times more than normal, a Clark County clerk told USA Today. Chapels aren't the only institutions doing brisk business. Lottery ticket sales are expected to surge on Friday, with firms around the world capitalising on the public's appreciation for a run of ones.
A Spanish charity for the blind named ONCE, which means 11 in Spanish, held a special lottery with 11 one-million-euro prizes and a super jackpot worth 11 million euros. All of its 13.5 million tickets sold out, organisers said Friday. Earlier this week, the New York Lottery reportedly stopped issuing 1-1-1-1 tickets for its Win 4 challenge after purchases for that number maxed out. "Lottery players are superstitious with their lucky numbers, and on a day like today its' likely that very many will pick 1-1-1-1," Carole Everett of the Maryland Lottery told AFP. Why all the fuss over a set of digits?
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