History of The Common Lucky Charms

Athletes (not to mention sailors and fishermen who depend heavily on the weather) are often superstitious. Home-run king Hank Aaron wore the same shower shoes for twenty years because he thought they brought him luck, and basketball great Michael Jordan felt more confident with his University of North Carolina shorts under his Chicago Bulls uniform.

Here are the common charms people rely on to bring good luck:

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Four-leaf clovers

The Druids in medieval Europe believed that the four-leaf clovers imparted to those who found them special powers to see invisible witches and evil spirits. A mutation of the normal three-leaf variety, its value as a charm stemmed in part from its rarity.

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Rabbits’ feet

Rabbits and hares have long been revered as mystical. Because they live underground, rabbits were believed by the Celts to be in secret communication with the netherworld. It is however, the great bunny-making capabilities of rabbits that give them their strongest association with luck and prosperity.

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Wishbones

The Etruscans believed that the hen and the cock were soothsayers—the hen because she foretold the laying of the egg with a squawk, and the cock because his crow heralded each dawn. When a fowl was killed, the collarbone was dried in the sun and people made wishes by simply touching the bone. The practice of breaking the wishbone, with good luck going to the one who gets the larger half, may have developed as a function of supply and demand: too few wishbones and too many people.

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Knocking on wood

This custom seems to have grown from a belief that the noise may prevent evil spirits from hearing you mention your good luck. That kind of boast would be dangerous because it could incite anger and a reversal of fortunes. Today, it has the more practical purpose of acknowledging your luck, making you seem more humble.

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Horseshoes

Horses have long been worshipped as magical animals, and the horseshoes’ crescent shape resembles the new moon, an ancient symbol for procreative powers of women. A horseshoe nailed over the door symbolizes the forces of life prevailing over the forces of death.