What Comes in Groups of Nine?

Things that come in groups of nine include the squares on a tic-tac-toe grid, the balls in a nine-ball pool game and the players on a baseball team. The fruits of the Holy Spirit number nine as well.

There are nine forms of the Chinese dragon, which has nine main attributes and nine children. In ancient Egypt, nine bows symbolized the society’s traditional enemies. In Europe during the Middle Ages, the Nine Worthies referred to nine historical figures who were thought to personify the values of bravery. In the Japanese culture, the number nine symbolizes bad luck because the word for it and the word for “pain” are pronounced similarly.