“But I understand it’s lucky whether you believe it or not.” “Neil’s, it can’t possibly be that you, a brilliant scientist, believe that foolish horseshoe superstition!?” Finally, unable to contain his curiosity any longer, he demanded: As they were talking, the friend kept glancing at a horseshoe hanging over the door. Philosopher Slavoj Zizek describes a horseshoe being lucky as an ideology, through this story.Ī friend was visiting in the home of Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr, the famous scientist. A horseshoe is considered a lucky object, but often unlucky when it’s upside down.

For example, lucky symbols in Christian-influenced cultures often contain the number seven, but in Chinese-influenced cultures it is usually the number eight. These superstitions are often specific to a given culture or set of related cultures, and are even sometimes contradictory. There are many recognisable objects here, as well as traditions that we consider to be lucky. ‘Holed flint carried as a charm against bleeding of the nose.’.‘Stone carried by a shelter to protect his sheep from getting foot-rot.’.‘Holed stone carried as protection against lighting.’.

‘Holed flint that were hung up in a pig-sty probably to protect the pigs from swine-fever.’.

Some of these were described by Edward Lovett in such diverse manners as There are a variety of other stones on display in the World Gallery that were thought to have special powers. I personally am fascinated by everyday objects that are steeped in stories and folklore over time.

His book ‘Magic in Modern London’, about folklore and charms, was published in 1925. He wrote about them, gave talks and curated a 1916 exhibition called ‘The folklore of London’ held at the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum. Many UK museums have objects from his collection. These charms in the Horniman were collected by Edward Lovett, an avid collector of amulets and objects related to traditions and magic.

King lucky concepts blogo