Duchess of Downtown Tacoma

Tetraphobia (from Ancient Greek (tetrás) 'four', and Ancient Greek  (phóbos) 'fear') is the practice of avoiding instances of the digit 4.  It is a superstition most common in East Asian nations. Many buildings in Asian countries don't have a fourth floor. If hospitals do, then they never keep patients on the fourth floor.  The 4th floor is missing because there is a very similar pronunciation of "four" and "death" in many languages that sounds like "shee."   The words "four" and "death" are pronounced the same in the following languages:  Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-ləj *səj Old Chinese /*s.lij-s/ /*sijʔ/ Middle Chinese /siɪ H / /sˠiɪ X / Mandarin Chinese sì sǐ Wu Chinese  ( Shanghainese ) sy² sy², shi² Cantonese sei³ sei² Hakka si³ si⁴ Min Nan  ( Hokkien ),  Taiwanese sì, sù sí, sú Vietnamese tư, tứ tử Korean sa sa Japanese shi shi The pagan Irish worshipped the Side (also pronounced "shee,") i.e. the earth-god...

If they were trying to hide their holy heritage they probably wouldn't call themselves the Bigod family, but in the old days, these things were out in the open. This blog entry is dedicated to the many generations of the Bigod family whom I am related to through my father and the castles they lived in. I am fascinated by the etymology of the names in my family tree. Perhaps I will do a future blog just on the names and their meanings.  There are two castles associated with the Bigod family, Framingham Castle and Bungay Castle and also a  Thetford Priory . I like seeing the real estate. Maybe this is why I am attracted to real estate investing - something deep and ancestral attracts me to old structures, especially those made of stone. In my research for my book about Hotel Olympus I have come into some knowledge about architecture and its link to spirituality and I find this avenue of study absolutely fascinating as well. This leads to learning about things like resonance...

Saint Winefride, my 2nd cousin, was a Welsh virgin martyr of the 7th century. Her cult was celebrated as early as the 8th century, but became popular in England in the 12th, when her biography was first written down. To this day people make religious pilgrimages to her healing well, including Prince Charles today July 5th 2021. ( see story here )  A healing spring at the traditional site of her decapitation and restoration is now a shrine and pilgrimage site called St Winefride's Well in Holywell, Flintshire, Wales and known as "the Lourdes of Wales". " Saint Winifred's  Story ​ Winifred (the Anglicised version of the name Winefride), was a 7th-century Welsh woman, the daughter of a local chief and niece of St Bueno. Her family connections mean she is sometimes called a princess. Winefride was pursued by a suitor named Caradoc, but when she told him she had decided to become a nun rather than give in to his advances, Caradoc flew into a rage. He cut off Winefride...