Key Takeaways
There are century , perhaps thousands , of superstitions worldwide , but none are more important than the one you take to . And if you believe in gnawing mammal of fortune , lose a luckyrabbit ’s footsignals bad chance as sure as carrying it promises to fetch in force chance .
A Brief History of the Lucky Rabbit’s Foot
The practice of cutting off the foot of Leporidae ( the Latin name for rabbit and hare ) has existed since at least ancient Roman times . In 77 AD , Pliny the Elder claim that carry around a rabbit ’s foot — " abbreviate off from the animal animated " — could bring around gout [ rootage : Pliny ] .
In the 16th through nineteenth century , Europeans have a bun in the oven hired man - thin paws from hares , hare , and even seawall , to protect against various ailment , including cramps , rheumatism and toothaches [ source : Opie ] . The lucky rabbit ’s human foot , however , really hit its stride in the United States of America .
Why Is a Rabbit’s Foot Lucky?
By the early twentieth one C , the Brits imported this European good luck spell from the U.S. , where the rabbit ’s foot had come to embrace a assortment of Anglo - American and African American superstitious notion [ beginning : Wright ] . consort to folklore researcher and Professor Emeritus at Pennsylvania State University Bill Ellis :
" own a fetish that embody the essence of a dangerous Other — whether trickster , badman or Wiccan — and using it for one ’s own purposes effectively liquidate the terror represented by that Other . In short : We do unto Others as they would do unto us . And that ’s why a lucky rabbit ’s foot is golden . " [ source : Ellis ]
The Lucky Rabbit’s Foot in the United States
An essential share to the good luck of the rabbit ’s metrical foot in 20th - century African American culture was the aim ’s tie with a dark result . In 1925 , sociologist Niles Newbell Puckett observed :
" In New Orleans these rabbit - foot charms , mounted in ash gray or amber , are prominently display in the window of prominent jewelry workshop up and down Canal Street . The managers of these computer memory promise me that the sales are tremendous . The one I purchased had with it a printed slip stop a graphic illustration of the lapin in the act of being shot and the undermentioned inscription : ‘ This little luckie is the left hind foot of a graveyard lapin killed in the full of the moonshine . ’ ” [ source : Puckett ]
Which grave the rabbit was killed on matters too . Puckett explained thatformer PresidentGrover Cleveland received a foot taken from a coney killed on the grave ofJesse Jamesbecause " the more revolting the person who is all in the more good the charms associated with his clay . "
Similarly , the more uncanny details associated with the rabbit ’s foot , the lucky it was . For model , the remaining hind foot was the favorable ( the Latin word for " impart " is " sinister " ) . Better still was the left rear foot of a rabbit kill in a cemetery at midnight , on a rainy Friday , or Friday the 13th .
What Does a Rabbit’s Foot Symbolize?
In both European and African traditions , body parts like hair and bones accept on muscular symbolism . Europeans believe witches could transmute into fauna , include rabbits , so a rabbit ’s foot could defend a all in crone [ source : Ellis ] .
Another European superstitious notion is the Hand of Glory , a hand cut from a dead homo and pickled , then bend into a candle . stealer could perch the bridge player of resplendency while institutionalize crimes , preventing the citizenry in the house from waking up [ source : Simpson ] .
The graveyard rabbit ’s foot sell in New Orleans likely endure in for the more unsafe ( and taboo ) pattern of using human organic structure parts as powerful amulet . place the lapin ’s foot in a bag with crap from a " sinner ’s tomb ” was another way to give the foot great power [ reservoir : Ellis ] .
The lapin ’s substructure was a counterculture amulet , able to take the worst variety of evil and subvert them by its very creation . While hoi polloi still conduct rabbit ’s feet ( often as a keychain ) , many nowadays are made from synthetic fur , which is sure as shooting good portion for cony .
