Rabbit's foot
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Rabbitsfoot.jpg/220px-Rabbitsfoot.jpg)
In some cultures, a rabbit's foot is carried as an
It has been suggested by Benjamin Radford that the rabbit's foot could be connected to a European good luck charm called the Hand of Glory, a hand cut from a hanged man and then pickled.[1]
Humorist R. E. Shay is credited with the witticism, "Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit."[2]
In North American culture
The belief in
The various rituals suggested by the sources, though they differ widely one from another, share a common element of the uncanny, and the reverse of what is considered
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0d/Rabbit_foot_blues.jpg/325px-Rabbit_foot_blues.jpg)
These widely varying circumstances may share a common thread of suggestion that the true lucky rabbit's foot is actually cut from a shapeshifted witch. The suggestion that the rabbit's foot is a substitute for a part from a witch's body is corroborated by other folklore from hoodoo.
Rabbit's feet were also considered lucky because of their association with the dead body of a criminal. According to Newbell Niles Puckett, a 20th-century folklorist, “the more wicked the person who is dead, the more effective the charm associated with his remains." Puckett observed that during the 1884 election campaign of Grover Cleveland, he was said to have received the foot of a rabbit that had been killed on the grave of Jesse James, the American outlaw.[1]
In any case, the rabbit's foot is dried out and preserved, and carried around by
In addition to being mentioned in blues lyrics, the rabbit's foot is mentioned in the American
A related good luck ritual in Britain and the United States is to say "rabbit rabbit rabbit" upon waking on the first day of a month, to bring good luck over the remainder of that month.[6]
See also
- The Rabbit's Foot Company (also known as the Rabbit's Foot Minstrels)
- Four-leaf clover
- Horseshoe
- The Monkey's Paw
- List of lucky symbols
References
- ^ a b Little, Becky (August 13, 2019). "Why Are Rabbits—And Rabbits' Feet—Considered Good Luck Symbols?". HISTORY. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
- ^ R.E. Shay quotation.
- ^ ISBN 0-8131-2289-9
- ^ Harlan, Louis R. The Booker T. Washington Papers Volume 8: 1904–1906. University of Illinois. p. 437. Archived from the original on January 17, 2005. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
- ISBN 9780195354324. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
- ^ Little, Becky. "Why Are Rabbits—And Rabbits' Feet—Considered Good Luck Symbols?". HISTORY. Retrieved 2021-03-23.