St. Patrick’s Day is supposed to be lucky. For example, if you find a shamrock on St. Patty’s day it is believed you will have good luck the entire day. The term “The Luck of the Irish” stared in the mid-1800’s during the U.S. gold rush when many Irish immigrants found gold and silver. It is also said that if you catch a Leprechaun he must grant you three wishes.
In other cultures there are different forms of good luck. For example, in China the number eight is believed to be lucky because when pronounced in Chinese it sounds much like their word for “rich” or “fortune”. They believe in this so much that a gentleman in Taiwan recently paid $1.5 million for the personalized car license plate “8888”. In the Philippines the number seven is thought to be lucky. For instance, when anyone came to visit former President Ferdinand Marcos he would make them wait for seven minutes and he wrote all of his laws in seven parts. In Japan one of the most famous good luck symbols is that of the beckoning cat. The most popular of those is the one where the cat has one forepaw raised. If the left paw is raised then it is meant to attract customers to a business whereas a raised right paw brings in the flow of money.
Among those who follow the Hindu religion in India elephants are believed to be good luck. In Mexico, white roosters are thought to bring good luck especially if they crow inside the house!
Everyone around the world has symbols for and beliefs in luck. While they vary from place to place it just shows how similar we are no matter where we live.