Laughing Buddha, Waving Cat: 101 Charms and Beliefs to Turbo-Charge Your Luck

by Jamie Downham

Overview

How many times a week do people say ‘good luck’ to you? Probably more than a few.

We might consider ourselves much more sophisticated than the ancient civilisations that practically revolved around lucky charms, but they are still all around us. We bless sneezes, we throw spilt salt over our shoulders, keep statues of St Christopher in our cars, and often have horseshoes in our homes.

One modern building in Hong Kong even has an enormous hole in its side for good fortune. Why? Read on. Each of the 101 lucky charms listed here has a real slice of history behind it, with many symbols and traditions dating back thousands of years.

And with all those good-luck signs on your e-reader, it may even bring you some luck, too. Well fingers crossed (oh, and we’ll explain what that strange saying is all about too).

Good luck!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781908556677
Publisher:	Apostrophe Books Ltd
Publication date:	06/24/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	110
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

Read an Excerpt

Sailors have long considered the albatross good luck, probably because the sight of one suggested they were near land. Unfortunately for superstitious seafarers, the giant bird can last for years at sea. Its fame was cemented by a Coleridge poem about a foolish young sailor who shot one and was forced by shipmates to wear it round his neck – hence the bad-luck phrase "albatross around the neck".