Silver Pockets Full: Hopes, Riches, and a Hoax

August of this year has five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays. That’s a fact.  A chain letter making rounds on the internet claims this happens only once every 823 years. That’s a lie.

Actually, the last time five Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays occurred in any month was in July, 2011. In 2008 was the last time it occurred in August. The eighth month is mentioned as magical when the five days happen.

A Chinese blogger is credited with starting the hoax in 2010. The blog went viral and traveled across the water to the United States and many European countries. After this year, it will happen again in August 2025, 2031, and 2036. The list goes on and punches a big hole into the every 823 years theory.

The hoax elaborates on using Feng Shui to get money from the so-called rare day alignment. People believe they will get money by passing on the information in chain letters and emails. They place small bags around their homes. These bags supposedly will fill with coins from the good feelings generated from Feng Shui that people believe generates well-being, good health and good fortune.  The money or good fortune bags became known as Silver Pockets Full.

Chinese Buddhism has the belief of good coming from the money bags placed inside homes during any August with the special five day sequence. The small bags are considered good luck charms. Feng Shui enthusiasts believe the specially arranged placement of furniture inside a room can generate good fortune in the same way the money bags work.

The whole philosophy of Feng Shui is driven by self-fulfilling prophecies. When a home owner hires an expert to arrange her furniture and to meditate on the vibrations emitted inside a house, there is an expense involved. People naturally want to believe they spend their money well. Therefore, any good that comes along can be attributed to the Feng Shui influence inside the home.

People always want to give justification to things that bring hardships into life. We often hear the following phrases: “It could have been worse. At least we still have (fill in the blank). What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”

The truth is that we all live in this world filled with chaos. Circumstances out of our control dominate what happens to us. It’s all good and bad, none of which we control, that leave us coping with reality. Having something to help us understand why things happen to us is the basis for superstitions and beliefs such as the Silver Pockets Full.

Feng Shui based, Silver Pockets Full contradicts itself by repeating the chain letter and its errors every year. Any belief in this superstition is based on nonsense and wishful thinking.

Thank you for reading this blog. I’ll have another interesting one here later this month. Meanwhile, read my web site at www.joevlatino.com. My book of short stories can be seen there.