Luck

European folklore

• Luck appears in European folklore.

  Luck as a courted or fended-off companion is at home in European folk speech. It is not Ifá’s Eshu and not Ptolemy’s inclination.

  appears in · interpretive · culturally specific

• Luck is associated with Gold.

  Folk speech treats gold as a lucky find. The metal’s price and the luck-charm are different jobs.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Luck is associated with Charm.

  Luck is often courted with a small made thing. The courtship is folk technique, not a natal inclination.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Eye is associated with Luck.

  Around the Mediterranean and in later Europe, a look can be said to blight luck. The “evil eye” is a folk harm, not the wedjat.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Seven is associated with Luck.

  European folk speech treats seven as a lucky count. That is not Ptolemy’s planetary seven, even when the number looks the same.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Red is associated with Luck.

  Some European and later popular customs treat red as protective or lucky. That is not Mexica ritual color and not alchemical fire.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• European folklore is connected to Luck.

  Folk belief often stores luck and omen in the same household. The store is not a temple archive.

  connected to · interpretive · culturally specific

• Charm is associated with Luck.

  A worn or spoken charm is often a bid to court or fend luck. Folk speech stores the two together; a temple oracle is another institution.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

Yoruba Ifá

• Eshu is associated with Luck.

  Because Eshu can open or close a path, fortune in Ifá is partly a matter of whether the messenger is correctly acknowledged.

  from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969

  associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific

• Fate is associated with Luck.

  Fate and luck both name what is not fully chosen. One sounds allotted, the other accidental; cultures disagree which word fits.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

Twentieth century

• Cowrie is associated with Luck.

  Later popular charm-talk makes the cowrie a luck-shell. That is not Bascom’s Ifá and not Hogendorn’s money.

  associated with · interpretive · modern interpretation