Why is
it lucky for brides to wear "something old,
something new, something borrowed, something
blue" or to be carried over the threshold? For
answers, check out the "Field Guide to Luck"
by Alys R. Yablon.
It's a
light and breezy compendium of lucky charms, spells
and portents that explains their origins, rituals and
cultural contexts. For example, in Japan a "maneki
neko" or the calico cat, is considered good luck.
So is a house, or office cubicle, with the
"beckoning cat" ceramic replica. Want to
know about more cat superstitions? Check the referrals
"black cat" or "nine lives of
cats."
Small
household legends are demystified. Why a prohibition
against opening an umbrella indoors? Umbrellas, or
parasols, originally "were used not to shelter
people from rain but to shield them from harsh
sunlight," Yablon explains. "It was thought
that opening one indoors would insult the sun
gods."
The
saying "not worth his salt" comes from the
Romans, when soldiers were paid in salt instead of
coin. So a person "not worth his salt"
wasn't much of a trooper.
One of
the many pleasures of this small book is a glossary of
terms, a subject index and a bibliography that
includes many Web sites for future research.
The
"Field Guide' might even show you that what you
thought was correct, is 100 percent wrong. The term
"luck of the Irish," for example, was
originally ironic. "The phrase `luck of the
Irish' was mainly used sarcastically to explain the
many hardships the Irish people have faced over their
long complicated history," Yablon says. And
leprechauns "were stingy, grouchy creatures who
made shoes for fairies and were generally not cute or
cuddly much less lucky."
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