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Luck of the Irish
By Steven Alloway
The leprechaun is a sneaky little sprite. A type of male faery from the Irish countryside, he is clever and mischievous, a trickster through and through. If your gaze happens to catch on a leprechaun, he becomes trapped. He cannot escape from you, but must instead lead you to his treasured pot of gold. The leprechaun will try anything and everything to get you to look away, though. Because if you do, even for a second, the spell will be broken, and you'll never see him again.
Even finding a leprechaun in the first place is no easy task. In addition to his cunning and trickery, he's also rather anti-social towards humans, staying as far away from them as possible. To find one, you'll need plenty of cunning and trickery of your own, as well as a little patience, and, most importantly, a lot of luck.
Luck can be a funny thing. This year March 17th brings us St. Patrick's Day and the "Luck o' the Irish," just four days after what many consider to be the unluckiest day of the year: Friday the 13th-the second in two months. Sometimes luck can change just that quickly. One minute you're at the bottom of the barrel, and the next minute, you've found your pot of gold. But luck can also work the other way around, and you can lose everything just as quickly. Where does luck come from? Who has it and who doesn't? And if you don't have good luck, how can you get it? A lot of people and a lot of cultures have put forth theories over the years about it. So with a bit of digging and just a little luck, our fortunes just might change.
Before you can get to that "pot of gold" on Wednesday, March 17th, first you'll have to weather through the curse of Friday the 13th. The date is often associated with bad luck or misfortune. The fear of such misfortune is called paraskavedekatriaphobia, and its origins go all the way back to Biblical times. Friday was long considered unlucky in many parts of the world, perhaps because it was the day on which Jesus was crucified. Similarly, 13 has always been an "unlucky number." Just before Jesus' crucifixion, he and his 12 disciples sat and ate together. Later that night, Jesus was arrested, his disciples abandoned him, Judas betrayed him, and Peter denied that he ever even knew him.
However, though separately, the superstitions are quite ancient, they didn't come together into a fear of Friday the 13th until quite recently. The first recorded mentions of Friday the 13th as an "unlucky day" didn't occur until the 19th century, and the belief didn't become widespread until the 20th.
So, is there anything to this fear? Well, if you own a business or work on Wall Street, you may have good reason to fear Friday the 13th. It's estimated that between $800 and $900 million in business is lost on that day in America, due to people who are too afraid of the day to go about their normal daily routines. On the other hand, if it's freak accidents you're afraid of, some experts believe that the accident rate actually goes down on Friday the 13th, due to the extra preventative and safety measures people tend to take, preparing for the worst.
If you're ambitious, you might even be able to use Friday the 13th to your advantage! It's believed by some that Friday the 13th is the only time to collect a rabbit's foot, for use as a good luck charm. Others say that it should be taken during the full moon. And some think it's during the new moon. But whenever you go out to capture a rabbit, make sure it's his left hind foot you take, as that's the lucky one. And it's only lucky if you capture him in a cemetery. You should also probably make sure you don't attract the attention of any animal rights activists.
There have to be easier ways to go about getting good luck this month, though. The easiest way of all is just to be born with it. In medieval times, a child born with a caul, a filmy, amniotic membrane that surrounds newborn mammals, including humans, was said to be a sign of supernatural luck. Fairy tales such as the Grimm Brothers' "The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs" were written about "Good Luck Children" born with cauls, who narrowly escaped certain peril, and went on to perform amazing feats and reap incredible rewards.
Unfortunately, however, most of us are not simply born lucky. And so we have to get our luck from somewhere else. In Ancient Roman mythology, luck was in the charge of the goddess Fortuna, keeper of Rota Fortunae: the Wheel of Fortune. Fortuna, called Tyche in Greek, was a fickle woman, often portrayed as blind, who would spin the Wheel of Fortune at random, to decide who would have wealth and prosperity, and who would ultimately meet their demise. But then, she would switch the figures on the wheel, so that those enduring misfortune might soon experience a turn for the better, while those with prosperity might at any moment lose it all. Both the Romans and Greeks had tremendous respect for this woman, who held men's fates in the palm of her hand. But as much as she was respected, she was also feared, and often despised, by those for whom the wheel did not spin favorably.
If leaving your fortune in the hands of a blind woman spinning a wheel doesn't appeal to you, you could always simply steal a Fortune God for your very own! Daikokuten, a rotund deity with a broad grin and a goatee, is one of the seven Japanese Gods of Fortune or "Seven Lucky Gods." Generally associated with wealth and prosperity, he is seen wearing a flat, black hat, and carrying a golden "magic money mallet." If you are able to steal a figure of Daikokuten without getting caught, you will be blessed with wealth and good fortune, according to legend. The practice is called Fuku-nusubi, and it has become so popular in Japan that at the end of the year, the markets are flooded with stolen figures that fortune-seekers, having already found their "pot of gold," now wish to sell.
But there are other areas of success besides just monetary prosperity. The other Japanese "Lucky Gods" covered luck in all sorts of different areas of life. There was Ebisu, the God of Fisherman, who was born without bones. Bishamonten, god of Warriors, a Buddhist deity, was often seen spitting jewels out of his mouth. Juroujin and Fukurokuju we both associated with wisdom and longevity. Juroujin is seen with animals such as cranes and tortoises, which are very long-lived, while Fuk-urokuju had a book tied to his staff, wherein was written the lifespan of every living person on the Earth. Hotei was the god of abundance and good health, whose image is often used in restaurants and other business to represent plenty. And finally, Benz-aiten was a goddess like a Greek muse, who made words flow like water. With the help of these deities, one could hope to live a very long, happy, prosperous, and successful life.
Greek, Roman, and Jap-anese luck are all well and good, but they're probably not going to be a lot of help on St. Patrick's Day. So just how does one get the "luck of the Irish"? What is it, and what does it entail? Can a nation that has been beleaguered by war and oppression, starved by famine, and discriminated against for jobs really be considered lucky? Well, it seems they were during the Gold Rush. A number of Irish people and people of Irish descent struck it rich in either gold or silver during the late 19th century. Among these were the legendary Silver Kings of the Nevada Comstock Lode: James Fair, James Flood, John McKay, and William O'Brien. They discovered the first major U.S. deposit of silver, in Virginia City, Nev., which yielded $19 million in silver and gold in 1877. Fair, Flood, and the others formed the Consolidated Virginia Mining Company and sold mines and mining stocks in their discovery, nicknamed the "Big Bonanza." It was events like this which led the phrase "luck of the Irish" to be used, with some degree of sour grapes by those who hadn't been so lucky, to describe these Irishmen who had found their so-called "pot of gold."
Or maybe you could just follow a leprechaun to get your "luck of the Irish." But be careful. They won't necessarily bring you good luck, and are usually more trouble than they're worth. In addition to being incredible tricksters, who will say anything to get you away from their gold, they can also be quite grumpy and ill-tempered. According to the movie Darby O'Gill and the Little People, if you capture a leprechaun, he has to grant you three wishes. But be careful! He'll try to trick you into making a fourth-which will make you lose everything you've wished for.
But how do you find a leprechaun in the first place? Well, it's not easy, of course, but it helps if you know what to look for. And if you're looking for a little man clad all in green, you may be looking in the wrong place. Through the 19th century, leprechauns were portrayed not in green, but in red. A tiny old man with a graying beard and a smart red dress coat, making shoes. That's right-the leprechaun is also a cobbler, who makes and repairs shoes for other faeries. So maybe set a trap for him using your old, worn out sneakers, and capture him when he shows up to mend them.
But if you really want that pot of gold, you might try just waiting until it rains, and finding it at the end of the rainbow.
Or, if elaborate plans and journeys in the rain aren't quite your style, maybe you could just find a four-leaf clover. The three leaves of a normal clover are said to represent faith, love, and hope. But the fourth leaf means luck. Finding one is no easy task, though. It's estimated that there are 10,000 three-leaf clovers for every four-leaf clover. To find one accidentally, which brings the most luck, it seems you'd need a bit of luck on your side already.
While waiting around for the four-leaf clover to come along, there are other, more common things which some cultures believe can improve your luck. A dragonfly, for example, is very good luck, and the sign of a good rice harvest. A ladybug brings good luck if it lands on you-but bad luck if you kill it. The same can be said of the albatross. As in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," an albatross following a ship would bring it good luck-but woe to you if you killed it. The misfortunes would be terrible.
A penny on the ground is said to bring good luck if you pick it up-though some say it's bad luck if it's facing tail-side up. Good luck or bad, though, it's hard to argue with free money. Though of course, the greatest gift of all is the one that keeps on giving, so some say that you'll have even greater luck if you pass the penny on to a friend.
A similar legend surrounds the finding of a horseshoe. Only if you find it by chance, and only if it's been used, will it bring good luck. If you hang it above your doorway, so that the two ends face up, all your good luck will be contained inside the horseshoe. But if it hangs with the two ends pointing down, the luck will fall out, leaving nothing but bad luck in its stead. Though some believe just the opposite-that in hanging a horseshoe with the ends pointing down, the good luck will pour out onto you.
And sometimes luck just comes along purely by accident. It's called serendipity, and it's what happens when something good comes out of something that went wrong. Some of the greatest discoveries in human history have come about through accidents. One of the most famous, of course, is Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin. After forgetting to disinfect some bacteria cultures he was experimenting on, Fleming returned home from vacation to find that they had grown mold. However, when he saw that the mold had killed all of the bacteria, he realized that these Penicillin mold spores could have tremendous potential for fighting disease and infection.
The Kellogg brothers, John Harvey and Will Keith, made a similar mistake when they left some cooked wheat out over night, causing it to harden. When they tried to put it through granola rollers to flatten it out into a sheet, the mass turned instead into flakes. The resulting wheat flakes-and later corn flakes-were a huge hit, and Kellogg's cereal was born.
It is said that a woman named Ruth Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn restaurant, in Whitman, Mass., made cookies for her patrons for dessert. One day while she was mixing the dough for some sugar cookies, the vibrations from the mixer shook some Nestle chocolate bars loose from the shelf above, which fell into the dough and got broken up and mixed in. Mrs. Wakefield feared her cookies were ruined, but decided to bake them anyway, so as not to be wasteful. The result turned out to be good luck not only for her and her guests, but for every man, woman, and child since. The Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie had been invented.
And of course, there was Christopher Columbus. He wanted to find a faster trade route to India, by sailing west instead of east. His ships landed and they thought they had found what they had been searching for. There were spices and other precious treasures in abundance. Columbus made several return voyages to this land he'd been to, opening up the door for merchants, settlers, and much more. It wasn't until later that it was discovered, this wasn't India at all, but a New World. And the rest… is history.Luck comes in all shapes and sizes. You can be born with it. You can find it. You can steal it. You can search for it. You can wait for it. You can try to bring it on, or ward it off. Sometimes, luck just finds you when you're least expecting it. And other times, your luck can turn in a split second. But don't worry about it too much. Because sooner or later, the pendulum always swings back the other way. And with a little patience and maybe a little ingenuity, sooner or later, you may just find your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.