Ten Legends That Are Said to Bring Good Luck

Ten Legends That Are Said to Bring Good Luck

Myths and folktales tell you what a place believes, fears and hopes for, often more directly than its monuments do. Sometimes a story is carved into the architecture and still visible; sometimes a whole society has drawn courage from it. Wilhelm Tell and Switzerland is the obvious example.

Luck is the same. Almost every culture has a gesture, a stone or a statue that promises a little of it. I asked travel bloggers from around the world to describe the legends they had come across and whether they had gone through with the ritual themselves. Here are ten of them, beginning with two I encountered on my own travels.

1. Spin on the bull, Milan

In the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan, a mosaic bull occupies a patch of floor, and people queue to stand on it. The legend says that turning three times on the bull's groins with your right heel brings prosperity and good luck. What convinced me the story has legs was the hole worn into the mosaic where everyone's heel lands. I have been to Milan twice and have not tried it either time. Plenty of visitors do, every day of the year.

2. Rub the pen of the hooded writer, Budapest

Two summers ago in Budapest, one figure stayed with me longer than the sights: the statue of the anonymous chronicler in the City Park near Heroes Square, hooded and holding a pen. He is said to have written the history of one of the kings, though the details are murky even to historians. The local belief is simpler — rub the pen and you become a better writer. I have no idea where the story started, and I rubbed it anyway. There seemed no reason not to.

3. Kiss the Blarney Stone, Ireland

Sonja Erin of Migrating Miss admits to a soft spot for legends. Seeing 11.11 on a clock, spotting the first star, finding a coin to flip — she will make a wish on any of them, without believing any of it is strictly true. So Blarney Castle in southern Ireland was never going to be skipped. The stone is supposed to give you the gift of the gab: eloquence, charm, the ability to talk your way out of trouble. What she had not realised is that kissing it means hanging upside down from the top of the castle. A friendly Irishman held on to her throughout. Whether the gift arrived is unclear; the memory certainly did.

Sonja writes at Migrating Miss and posts on Facebook and Instagram.

4. Drop a coin for the Little Pig, Florence

Il Porcellino di Firenze — the Little Pig of Florence — is neither little nor a pig. It is a boar, a Florentine emblem of strength, and it sits at the edge of the Mercato Nuovo waiting for someone to place a coin in its open mouth. If the coin lands in the pool beneath, luck is yours. If it drops through the grate instead, the money goes to local charities, so the arrangement is fair either way.

Izzy of The Next Somewhere points out the boar's snout, polished bright by thousands of hands. Touching it is meant to guarantee a return to Florence. She rubbed it, and is hoping the promise holds.

Izzy blogs at The Next Somewhere, and is on Facebook and Instagram.

5. Leave a stone at the Cruz de Ferro, Spain

Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago carry more than a backpack. Carol Guttery of Wayfaring Views walked it to rethink her working life and make room for travel; others walk to recover from a break-up, to fulfil a religious promise or to test their bodies. Near Monte Irago the route passes the Cruz de Ferro, an iron cross thought to date from 1103, and the tradition is to lay down something you have been carrying — a stone, a keepsake from home. Carol left sea glass from the California coast. The gesture was both an offering and a reminder of what was waiting for her back home.

The prayer said at the cross goes like this:

"Lord, may this stone, a symbol of my efforts on the pilgrimage that I lay at the foot of the cross of the Saviour, one day weight the balance in favour of my good deeds when the deeds of my life are judged. Let it be so"

Carol writes at Wayfaring Views and is on Facebook and Twitter.

6. Pull the finger of St Jakob, Rothenburg

Outside St Jakob's Church in Rothenburg ob der Tauber stands a small statue of St Jakob — St James — one of the twelve apostles and the town's patron. His middle finger is extended, and the local story is that pulling it brings luck and keeps sickness away. Lance and Laura Longwell of Travel Addicts assumed it was a tourist gimmick until they watched dozens of parishioners pull the finger on their way in to services. They joined in too.

Lance and Laura write at Travel Addicts, and are on Facebook and Instagram.

7. Ring the wishing bell, Lake Bled

The legend behind the bell on the island in Lake Bled concerns a young widow at the castle. She had a bell made in memory of her husband and intended it for the island chapel, but a storm caught the boat carrying it and sent both to the bottom of the lake. Grief-stricken, she went to Rome and joined a convent. After her death the Pope had a new bell cast and sent to Bled. Ring it three times while making a wish, the story goes, and the wish will be granted as a blessing from the widow.

Kylie of Between England and Iowa rang it mostly because she likes making noise. Five months later her wish came true, which she puts down to coincidence. She will not say what the wish was, on the grounds that telling would be tempting fate — not that she is superstitious.

Kylie blogs at Between England and Iowa and is on Facebook and Twitter.

8. Let a rat run over your feet, Rajasthan

At the Karni Mata temple in Deshnoke, Rajasthan, the resident population of rats once numbered more than 20,000. Pilgrims come from across the region to feed them, and some take home food the rats have eaten as a blessing. A rat crossing your feet while you are inside is considered good luck; spotting one of the white ones is luckier still.

Ami Bhat of Thrilling Travel is not fond of rodents, but curiosity won. She walked in on tiptoe, took a quick look at the rats drinking milk and scurrying about, and left the same way. She tried the easier parts of the belief and never did see a white rat.

Ami writes at Thrilling Travel and is on Facebook and Twitter.

9. Choose carefully at Sterkfontein, South Africa

The Sterkfontein Caves in Gauteng, near Johannesburg, are millions of years old and hold thousands of fossils, most of them still buried. One of the best-known finds was the skull nicknamed "Mrs Ples", about two million years old, discovered by Dr Robert Bloom. The fossil was important evidence for the origins of human evolution and supports the idea that southern Africa may have been where humankind began.

A statue of Bloom stands at the caves, and the legend attached to it comes with terms and conditions. Rub his hand for wisdom. Rub his nose for good luck. Rub both, and your luck drains away and darkness falls — or, as Heather and Lisa of Klipdrifters put it, it simply means you are greedy.

Heather and Lisa write at Klipdrifters.

10. Rub Lincoln's nose, Louisiana

At Houmas House, the plantation on the Mississippi at Darrow, Louisiana, the tour includes a solid silver statue of Abraham Lincoln weighing 68 pounds. It was made by Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor behind the giant heads at Mount Rushmore. The story is that rubbing Lincoln's nose brings good luck. Carole of Berkeley and Beyond rubbed it vigorously and is waiting to see what happens.

Carole blogs at Berkeley and Beyond and is on Facebook and Twitter.

Would you try any of them?

Some of these rituals are clearly built for visitors, and some are practised by people who live there. All of them reveal something about the place that built them. If you know a legend from your own country, or one you have picked up on the road, I would like to hear it.