Feeling Lucky
By Carolyn Lyon James
Every year in our household, we run outside at midnight on New Year’s Eve. We shout and bang pots and pans to scare away the old year and welcome in the new one. (Even when our children were little, we woke them up to put a wooden spoon and a pot in their hands so they could join the festivities.) Then we run back inside to warm up with hot chocolate, and we go to bed, knowing that the new year has started on a positive note.
Every country in the world has traditions to usher in good luck in the new year. Brazilians dress all in white, whereas Filipinos wear polka dots for a lucky new year. In Denmark, people jump off chairs, while in other countries, people plunge into frigid waters to figuratively leap into the new year and the good luck it will hopefully bring. Even the custom of making a new year’s resolution — while sounding like a newer tradition — can be traced back thousands of years to the ancient Babylonians.
Of course, good luck isn’t confined to the beginning of the year. Wishing upon a falling star can bring good luck, as can correctly pulling on a wishbone. And placing a penny minted in the year you were born into a penny loafer ensures you’ll be lucky every time you wear those shoes. We wish each other good luck when going to a job interview or starting a new adventure. Some days don’t feel lucky at all — your favorite shirt has a rip, the cat vomited on the white carpet, and now you can’t find your car keys. All the bad things keep piling up, and it feels as if the universe is out to get you. When something bad happens, we blame it on a bad piece of luck. There is so much in our lives we can’t control; carrying a talisman of a rabbit’s foot or tossing spilled salt over a shoulder to ward off bad luck can help reassert our sense of order.
The beginning of each year can act as a reset button, a yearly do-over. While you may not want to smash dishes like the Danish, or decorate the front door with onions like the Greeks do, you could find your own lucky charm to carry all year, or kiss a loved one at the stroke of midnight to bring you both good luck. But will doing these rituals or carrying a four-leaf clover really bring you luck? Of course not. But, maybe. Richard Wiseman, professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, explains that people who consider themselves to be lucky are more optimistic in their world outlook. They expect good things to happen, and even when they have bad experiences, they turn them into something good. “They’re… very resilient to bad things that happen. If bad things happen, it’s thinking, ‘Okay, it could have been worse,’ rather than ‘It could have been better.’ ”
So as we start a new year, and face down that long winter term that slogs on seemingly forever until spring break, we can wish on a fallen eyelash or hang a horseshoe above a doorway, knowing that good things are bound to come our way soon. We just need to stay optimistic in the face of new challenges and keep our fingers crossed.
