‘Luck’ is a very interesting concept. Different cultures have different ways of conceptualising ‘luck’. For some, it is totally random: a product of blind chance in a universe without meaning. For others, luck is more connected to some kind of divinity. Many people believe that there are ways to make yourself luckier. These ‘good luck traditions’ vary from culture to culture. In British culture, we have a few ‘lucky charms’ but many more items or actions which are traditionally seen as unlucky. One reason for this is that many more things used to be regarded as lucky, but were condemned as being connected to witchcraft in thee past and so are now seen as unlucky.

One famous example of a British lucky charm is the four-leaf clover. Clover is a kind of plant which grows very easily as it has the ability to ‘fix’ nitrogen from the air, so it can grow even n very poor soil. This means that it is a very common plant all over Europe. The leaf of the clover has three parts – but very rarely, you might find one which has four parts because of a genetic anomaly. If you find a four-leaf clover, you are genuinely mathematically lucky, given the one in about 1,500 chance of the clover having 4 leaves instead of 3.

Another good luck tradition in Britain is to ‘touch wood’. If you want something to happen, or not to happen, you can knock on a wooden item (e.g. a chair or table), while saying ‘touch wood!’ to try to help this. For example, ‘I did very well in my test today, so I think I passed … Touch wood!’

this tradition comes from the ancient British tradition of connecting to our ancestors and spirit guardians through trees. The ancient British calendar contains 13 trees, all of which are associated with different symbols.

When the Roman Empire introduced Christianity to Britain and installed the modern calendar of 12 months, the 13-tree calendar was seen as incorrect. This is one reason why the number 13 is seen as unlucky in modern Britain. Another tradition which comes from the tree calendar is that of bringing branches of the tree associated with the month you are in, in order to bring good luck to the house. Again, much of this lore has been changed to mean ‘unlucky’ since the condemnation of nature-based practices. For example, in the month of May, it was traditionally considered lucky to decorate your house with hawthorn branches, the tree associated with that month.

These branches were said to attract fairies, which can bring good luck. However, fairies were later seen as evil, so hawthorn branches inside the house got changed to an unlucky action.

As I prefer to connect to the traditions of my ancient ancestors, I like to think that the trees continue to be lucky. This month is the month of the Hazel tree, so my lucky charm is hazelnuts!

Do you have a lucky charm? Please let me know in the comments.

Would you like to learn more about British traditions? Please book a class with me.