When i was a little kid growing up in the 50's everybody had a lucky rabbit's foot. We knew mostly Catholics, but Protestants, Jews, Arabs all owned 'em too. Boys-girls, all races, old-young, nobody really believed that a rabbit's foot brought luck, but eh, it couldn't possibly hurt and ya can never know about what ya don't know. Same for walking under ladders, black cats, and steping on the lines in a concrete walkway, nobody REALLY believed they caused bad luck but everybody changed their route if a black cat was walking by, never walked under ladders and avoided those expansion joint lines just the same.There lots of other taboos and charms too. They were a cultural ghost from our not so distant pagan past. They are part of a verbal tradition that has handed down stories and customs through the generations that the church outlawed as the devil's work. Many ancient rituals have lived, some hidden but most in clear view. Some, like the bogey man, were used to control any potential wayward behavior. Every culture had them, just ask your grandparents.
i got my rabbit's foot so long ago its origins have faded to mystery. But it hasn't, it sits here just beside my laptop and still gets almost daily rubbing, not that i believe it matters. For at least 58 years it has sat on my dresser, lounged on my desk while i did homework, lived in my pocket through mosta college, then after a period of rest at my mom's house for a while, it has been back on the scene emanting its luck filled vibrations through my life, or not.
i've had a very lucky life, beyond even that first bit of incredible luck to have one at all, lucky to have two great daughters, to have shared my little life with them and our best friends, very lucky mud for sure. All nothing to do with my lucky rabbit's foot i'm sure, but...
