In mathematics

• Twelve is a composite number, the smallest number with exactly six divisors, its proper divisors being 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6. Twelve is also a highly composite number, the next one being 24.

• If an odd perfect number is of the form 12k+1, it has at least twelve distinct prime factors.

In religion

Religion inherits the number twelve for its magical properties.

• The biblical Jacob had 12 sons, who were the progenitors of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
• In Judaism, 12 signifies the age a girl matures (bat mitzvah).
• The New Testament describes twelve apostles of Jesus; when Judas Iscariot was disgraced, a meeting was held (Acts) to add Matthias to complete the number twelve once more.
• In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is a Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
• The Book of Revelation 12:1 mentions a woman — usually interpreted by Catholics as Virgin Mary, but more commonly interpreted as the nation of Israel — wearing a crown of twelve stars (representing each of the twelve tribes of Israel), and there are 12,000 people sealed from each of the twelve tribes of Judah (144000).
• In Shi’a Islam, there are twelve Imams. These twelve early leaders of Islam are—Ali, Hasan, Husayn, and nine of Husayn’s descendants.
• There are 12 days of Christmas. The song Twelve Days of Christmas came from the traditional practice of extending Yuletide celebrations over the twelve days from Christmas day to the eve of Epiphany; the period of thirteen days including Epiphany is sometimes known as Christmastide. Thus Twelfth Night is another name for the twelfth day of Christmas or January 5 (the eve of Epiphany).
• Eastern Orthodoxy observes 12 Great Feasts.
• In Antiquity there are numerous magical/religious uses of twelves.^[1] Ancient Greek religion, the Twelve Olympians were the principal gods of the pantheon.
• The chief Norse god, Odin, had 12 sons.
• Several sets of twelve cities are identified in history as a dodecapolis, the most familiar being the Etruscan League.
• In the King Arthur Legend, Arthur is said to have subdued 12 rebel princes and to have won 12 great battles against Saxon invaders.

In time

• Most calendar systems have twelve months in a year.
• The Western zodiac has twelve signs, as does the Chinese zodiac.
• The Chinese use a 12 years cycle for time-reckoning called Earthly Branches.
• There are twenty-four hours in a day in all, with twelve hours for a half a day. The hours are numbered from one to twelve for both the ante meridiem (a.m.) half of the day and the post meridiem (p.m.) half of the day. 12:00 after a.m. and before p.m. (in the middle of the day) is noon, and 12:00 after p.m. and before a.m. (in the middle of the night) is midnight. A new day is considered to start with the stroke of midnight. Furthermore, the basic units of time (60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours) can all perfectly divide by twelve.
• The minute hand of a clock face turns twelve times as fast as the hour hand.

In the arts

Music

• Twelve is the number of pitch classes in an octave, not counting the duplicated (octave) pitch. Also, the total number of major keys, (not counting enharmonic equivalents) and the total number of minor keys (also not counting equivalents). This applies only to twelve tone equal temperament, the most common tuning used today in western influenced music.
• The twelfth is the interval of an octave and a fifth. Instruments such as the clarinet which behave as a stopped cylindrical pipe overblow at the twelfth.
• The twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg. Music using the technique is called twelve-tone music.

In other fields

• There are 12 in a dozen.
• There are 12 ounces in a troy pound (used for precious metals), and 12 constellations in the ecliptic (or signs of the zodiac).
• In the former British currency system, there were twelve pence in a shilling.
• In astrology, there are 12 signs in the Zodiac.
• In Greek mythology, the number of labours of Heracles was increased from ten to make twelve.
• The number of dan (master) grades in judo.
• In English, twelve is the number of greatest magnitude that has just one syllable.
• There are normally twelve pairs of ribs in the human body.
• Twelve stars are featured on the European flag.
• The car number of NASCAR’s Ryan Newman.
• In the United States, twelve people are appointed to sit on a jury for felony trials in all but four states, and in federal and D.C. courts. The number of jurors gave the title to the play (and subsequent films) 12 Angry Men.
• Twelve men have walked on the Earth’s moon.
• The United States of America is divided into twelve Federal Reserve Districts (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco); American paper currency has serial numbers beginning with one of twelve different letters, A through L, representing the Federal Reserve Bank from which the currency originated.
• In tarot, card no. 12 is “the Hanged Man”
• According to UFO conspiracy theory, Majestic 12 is a secret committee, allegedly set up by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to investigate the Roswell UFO incident and cover up future extra-terrestrial contact.

why the sudden fascination with the number 12? because..

this is the 12th entry on this blog. and looks like the one that will end the year. i’ve been bad at updating this but i hope it’ll be better next year. have cleared out the mess that is my blog and keeping it crisp and clean.

the pic. with the gorgeous sky as my header. i took that myself. havent been photoshoped. nice yah? hehe! taken in taiping. at the traffic light in front of the newly built tesco. i have more pics so stay tuned.

so, until then..

bosco, sheena and i wishes everyone merry christmas and a happy new year!