General
Age- Sixteen is the age of majority in countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba and Kyrgyzstan. It is the age for obtaining a learners driver’s licence in places like the US, Canada and Australia.
Sweet 16 is a coming-of age party, usually for girls, when they turn 16. In the West, these parties can be lavish ones thrown to celebrate the teenager’s entry into adulthood.
Weight- The British use a measure of 16 ounces in a pound. The Chinese, too, used to have 16 liangs in one jin in measurement.
16/8 intermittent fasting- A popular weight-loss programme, this involves eating during an eight-hour window and fasting for the remaining 16 hours of the day. Many people prefer to eat between noon and 8pm, having to simply skip breakfast while enjoying an early dinner and snacks in between.
Wildlife
Spider- The longest lived spider recorded was called Number 16. She was a wild female trapdoor spider that lived in Australia and was studied by researchers. While the average age of such spiders is within 20 years, Number 16 was about 43 when she died in 2016, probably killed by a parasitic wasp sting.
Animals in war- Over 16 million animals served in World War I. They were used for transport, communication and companionship.
Eyes- Mantis shrimp possibly have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. While humans have three types of cones in our eyes, allowing us to see the colours red through violet, Mantis shrimp have 16 types of cones, giving them an advanced colour recognition system.
History
Louis XVI was the only French king to be executed. He and his wife Marie Antoinette were seen as a symbol of tyranny while the masses suffered from food scarcity and his 1793 death by the guillotine during the French revolution brought an end to more than a thousand years of continuous monarchy.
Sports and entertainment
Chess- A chess set contains 16 pawns and each player starts the game with a total of 16 pieces.
Sixteen Going on Seventeen Is a song from the iconic 1965 film The Sound of Music. Sung by 16-year-old Liesel and 17-year-old Rolfe, it describes how Liesel, at the threshold of womanhood, looks to Rolfe for guidance as he’s a year older.
Tu kitne baras ki is a song from the 1980 film Karz where Rishi Kapoor asks the age of Tina Munim and she replies “sola” (16). Rendered by Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar, the song is about budding romance.
Solva Sawan was actress Sridevi’s debut in Bollywood and she was, incidentally, 16 years old during the making of the film. The 1979 romantic drama also starred Amol Palekar.
Fairy tales- In the oft-retold story of the Sleeping Beauty, a princess is cursed to sleep for a 100 years when she reaches her 16th birthday. The princess, called Talia and Aurora in different versions of the tale, can only be awakened by a prince who loves her.
Culture
Sola singar- it is traditionally believed that when an Indian woman dresses up, it takes 16 items to complete her look. While the 16 can vary, they usually include bindi, kajal, flowers in the hair, mang tika, earrings, nose ring, necklaces, armlets, bangles, henna, hathphool, finger rings, waistbands, anklebells, toerings and perfume.
Sholo aana - is a Bengali idiom that means pure, unadulterated. It originates from the old concept of an anna, that was a unit of currency equal to 1/16th of a rupee. Sixteen annas thus meant an entire rupee.
