St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday surrounded on the idea of good luck.  Many people believe in luck and often carry charms or amulets with them to make sure their luck is positive.

The three most common good luck charms are:

Horseshoes

They are said to bring good luck because they are made by blacksmiths, which is a lucky trade, made of iron (which wards off evil fairies) and because they are held in place with seven nails (which is also believed to be a lucky number).

There is a controversy, however, on how horseshoes must be placed to bring good luck.  While some believe that putting a horseshoe up on a wall with the ends facing up will capture good luck and facing it down will let the good luck go, others believe that facing the horseshoe with the ends down will release good luck to the people surrounding it.

Horseshoes are only lucky if they have been used, found and if they can be touched where they are placed

Rabbit’s foot

They are known to be symbols of good luck and fertility.

Many factors play into what makes a rabbit’s foot lucky.  First off it must be the left hind foot of the rabbit and many believe that the rabbit has to be killed a certain way, in a cemetery, during a certain phase of the moon, on a Friday (preferably Friday the 13th), by a person with some deformity.  All of these signs for bad luck make sure that the rabbit’s foot is lucky.

Four Leaf Clovers

The four leaves of the clover stand for faith, hope, love and luck.  The rare fourth leaf of the clover is where the luck comes in.

The Irish believe that Ireland (A.K.A. Emerald Isle) has more four-leaf clovers than anywhere else in the world which gives them the “luck of the Irish.”

Finding a four-leaf clover is 10,000:1

There are many world records that people hold from biggest four leaf clover collection to most leaves found on a clover.

Although these three are the most common good luck charms people often find their own object that they believe to be lucky.

Freshman Gabby Vasquez is a believer in good luck ever since one of her good luck charms, a penny, got her an iPhone.

“I found a penny face up on the ground. I picked it up and later on that day my mom asked me if I wanted to go to the store with her and I said yeah, so we went to the AT&T store.  I’m sitting there and my mom said ‘I need two iPhones.’  My head shot straight up and she’s like ‘you’re getting an iPhone.’ So ever since, anytime I see a penny face up on the ground I pick it up ‘cause I know that there is a chance that something good will happen.”

By: Christine Juhas