Good Luck Charms Research Articles

Of Uncommon Birth: Dakota Sons in Vietnam

A work of creative nonfiction inspired by the true story of two South Dakota teenagers, Mark St. Pierre's Of Uncommon Birth draws upon extensive interviews and exhaustive research in military archives to present a harrowing story of two young men--one white, one Indian--caught in the vortex of the Vietnam War. Dale, a young middle-class white American from South Dakota, joins the army during the Vietnam War and dreams of serving his country. Frank, a young Lakota Indian, joins the army in an effort to flee the seemingly inescapable circumstances of his life and to follow his people's warrior tradition. Mark St. Pierre intimately weaves together the lives of these two men from different worlds, as each struggles with issues of loyalty, responsibility, sacrifice, and personal identity through his experiences in Vietnam. Of Uncommon Birth presents the ironic story of an American Indian soldier who lets himself become stereotyped as the Native good luck charm, even if the brave Indian scout stereotype carries with it the smell of death.

Legacy of the luoshu: the 4,000 year search for the meaning of the magic square of order three

A symbol of the Divine, a good luck charm, a cosmogram of the world order, a template for fengshui-through the ages, the luoshu, or magic squre of order three, has fascinated people of many different cultures. In this riveting account of cultural detective work, renowned mathematics educator, Frank J. Swetz relates how he uncovered the previously h

The "Topping out" Traditions of the High-Steel Ironworkers

is the term used by ironworkers to indicate that the final piece of steel is being hoisted into place on a building, bridge, or other large structure.1 project is not completed, but has reached its maximum height. To commemorate this first milestone the final piece of iron is usually hoisted into place with a small evergreen tree (called a Christmas tree in the trade) and an American flag attached.2 piece is usually painted white and signed by the ironworkers and visiting dignitaries (figure 1). If the project is important enough (and the largesse of the contractor great enough) the ceremony may culminate in a celebration known as a out party in which the construction crews are treated to food and drink. Ironworkers belong to the union called International Association of Bridge, Structural, and Ornamental Ironworkers, which was established in 1896. Local #1 is in Chicago, the putative birthplace of the skyscraper. work encompasses a wide variety of construction activities from the placement of reinforcing steel (called re-bar) in concrete structures, to welding, to heavy rigging, to the more visible and extreme activities like the erection of skyscrapers and bridges. oldest continuous aspect of the trade is practiced by ornamental ironworkers who install metal stairways, ladders, catwalks and a wide array of decorative metal structures. Ornamental ironwork predates the union and the use of structural steel by many hundreds of years. Even though steel long ago supplanted iron as a building material the men in the trade are called ironworkers-not steel workers-and they usually refer to the columns and beams as iron. One reason the ironworkers observe the topping out custom is the simple fact that they are the first workers to reach the top of the structure. I guess the impulse to commemorate the achievement is similar to that of mountain climbers-or astronauts landing on the moon that matter.3 Topping out the structure means the end is in sight the raising-gang-the men who actually set the iron in place. There is more work to be done, and ironworkers will be involved in some aspects of it, but the heavy work is done and the raising gang is almost out of a job. While no two topping out ceremonies are the same, they usually have some combination of a tree, a flag, the ritual signing of the final beam, and a party. custom of decorating the uppermost point of the structure with an evergreen tree is a tradition that predates the structural-steel industry in America by hundreds of years and has old Northern European roots. Although the topping out tree has ancient roots there is no consensus among modern ironworkers as to what exactly the tree symbolizes, or when and how came to be used by the ironworkers. According to Ironworker, the union's official publication, for some the evergreen tree symbolizes that the job went up without a loss of life, while others it's a good luck charm the future occupants(1984:11). Other accounts attribute the tree as signifying simply that we [ironworkers] did it (Kodish, 1989:2). Little scholarship has been published on this custom. Most of what has been published has appeared in newspapers, popular magazines and engineering trade journals. One can get a feel the age and scope of such tree rituals from James Frazer who discusses tree worship extensively in Golden Bough. (Indeed, the title of the book itself is an allusion to tree worship.) For example, in Chapter Ten, Relics of Tree-Worship in Modern Europe, Frazer reports that was common practice in spring or early summer the people to go into the woods and cut branches and fasten them to every house (1922:139). Frazer further remarks, The intention of these customs is to bring home to the village, and to each house, the blessings which the tree-spirit has in its power to bestow (1922: 139). evergreen tree's ability to survive the harsh Northern European winter must have made a powerful life-affirming symbol. …

Crossed Fingers and Praying Hands: Remarks on Religious Belief and Superstition

Picture the following scene. A minister takes communion to one of her elderly home-bound members. When she arrives she is met by her parishioner and two visiting friends. She invites both visitors to partake of communion with her and the parishioner. One woman happily agrees to do so. The other woman declines by giving a mini-sermon explaining that because she feels unworthy to partake of the Lord's Supper she would be guilty of sin if she did so. Furthermore, if she took communion in this unworthy state God would cause her to be sick. After communion, the minister inquires if she might wash the communion cups. The woman who participated in the sacrament with the pastor and church member asks if she might perform this function. But then she hesitates and asks with a sense of temerity, “Is it alright if I do so?” “I mean,” she continues, “may be I'm not supposed to wash them. They are holy cups and my hands are so tainted with sin. It might be wrong for me to handle them.” Finally, the shut-in who was the original object of the visit in the first place tells her young, and by now bewildered, pastor, “You know. Last month when you brought me communion my hip was killing me. After you served me the elements the pain just went away. I know the sacrament healed me.” The pastor offers a final prayer not knowing if her words will be heard as a prayer to God or as an incantation or spiritual good-luck charm.

An Unlucky Rabbit's Foot?

The diagnosis of tularemia, a bacterial disease, may not be considered because of its low incidence in the United States. A careful epidemiologic history, however, may offer the necessary clues to diagnosis.1 We describe two cases of tularemia in siblings presumably caused by contact with a rabbit killed by hunting dogs. Of special interest was the use of the rabbit's feet as good luck charms. Although appropriate measures can be taken to prevent this disease, such precautions are either not widely known or not strictly adhered to among those who hunt small game. CASE REPORTS An 8-year-old white boy (R. M.) from Memphis was referred to LeBonheur Children's Medical Center for evaluation of persistent fever.

When I Was a Child I Thought as a Child

Papa used to sit up late at night before an inlaid, rosewood writing desk with King Solomon's Book of Numerology lying open face down in his lap. Each night he would fall asleep this way dreaming of our fates. Asleep across the room in the big canopied bed, my mother, Mariah as I later came to call her, would lie with her back to Papa, and the sheet drawn up over her curly dyed-blonde head. She too was grateful, and therefore had learned to sleep with the lights on and to live in a kind of harmony with this deeply superstitious man (he was twenty-six years her senior), who wore around his neck and ankles good luck charms to ward off evil spirits. I can see Papa now cigar ashes spilt all down the front of his blue silk bathrobe. is peering at me over the gold metal of his wire-rimmed glasses. His broad face is set in a fierce expression, his chin trembles, Mind you never forget that you should be grateful for everything. he repeats, as he waves his thick-fingered hand indicating our entire surroundings and the light catches the glint of gold from his diamond and sapphire Masonic ring. know, he would say, arching his eyebrows, threatening me, He giveth and taketh away too. You don't want to forget that. Everything Papa said was like religion to me. The truth of what he said was in evidence all around us. The ornately carved antique furniture like the Eighteenth Century French writing-desk, the Empire styled canopied bed, the Oriental rugs on the floors, even the floors themselves, parquet, and the walls of this top floor apartment of a ten-story building; all of this property and the two other apartment buildings next to it, also our Pierce Arrow car, were all a part of Papa's inheritance from Mrs. Beth Middleton, the rich white woman for whom he had worked as a chauffeur for thirty-three years. Papa's wealth, taking him by surprise, had descended upon his life, an avalanche of fortune. It was both a terrifying and glorious experience that left Papa awed by what he pereceived as the magic of God's power. Even in 1935 it was unthinkable that a Negro, particularly an uneducated one such as Papa, could own so much property where he did. The three buildings we owned, which were adjoined by a large courtyard, made up a complex known as The Carlton Apartments. Situated at the corner of 21st and S Streets Northwest, Washington, D.C., they were one block west of Connecticut Avenue, just a few blocks away from the edge of old Georgetown. With its tree-lined streets, its cobbled sidewalks, and tall hedges bordering the front yards of these old elegant houses, this was one of the city's finest old residen-

Insects as Sacred Symbols in Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptians were fascinated by the sacred scarab beetle, Scarabaeus sacer L. and the beetle symbol known as a scarab was ubiquitous in ancient Egyptian religion. Scarabs were found in religious rites, tomb hieroglyphics, drawings, as amulets, commemoratives, good luck charms, and hand-carved scarabs Were buried with the dead. We can trace the ideas which the Egyptians held about this insect as far back in time as the building of the pyramids (ca. 2500 B.C.) and there is no doubt that they represented beliefs which even at that early period were very old. The worship of this creature antedates the history of any land.