Also called fingers crossed, keep your fingers crossed
Crossing the middle finger over the index finger is a gesture to wish for luck or ward off bad luck. Its origin is unknown; the popular stories about early Christians or pagan wishing are unproven, and the gesture is only well documented from the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Take care: Harmless, but meanings vary; in a few countries the gesture can be read as rude or as admitting a lie.
Popular histories say two people once crossed their index fingers together to make a wish, with the well-wisher supporting the wish-maker. This is a widely repeated theory with no early evidence behind it.
In Germany, Sweden, Poland and nearby countries people wish luck by tucking the thumbs inside closed fists and squeezing. Crossed fingers there are more often a sign of lying.
Children commonly cross their fingers behind their backs to make a promise or statement 'not count'. Folklorists record it as playground custom; any link to Christian oaths is speculation.
Most explanations of crossed fingers point to the shape of the Christian cross, or to a secret sign used by persecuted Christians, but none of these stories has early written evidence. A related claim is that pre-Christian Europeans crossed fingers with a friend to anchor a wish. Both appear mostly in 20th-century books of origins, not in old sources. Honest answer: no one knows where the gesture began.
What can be dated is its use in English folk belief. Reports from the late 18th and 19th centuries tie crossed fingers to warding off bad luck, especially after walking under a ladder. Over the 20th century the phrase 'fingers crossed' became an everyday way to say 'I hope so', and the gesture now has its own emoji. Its double life as a children's sign for cancelling a promise is also long established.
Knocking on wood, or touching wood in Britain, is a quick ritual done after praising your own luck or mentioning something you hope will continue, to keep from 'tempting fate'. Its origin is disputed: tree spirits and the Christian cross are popular theories, but folklorists find the custom recorded only from the 1800s.
A white clover stem that grew four leaflets instead of three, kept as a charm for good luck. In older British and Irish lore it also let the finder see through fairy glamour.
Friday the 13th is the day many people in the English-speaking world consider unluckiest. It joins two older fears, of Fridays and of the number 13, and the combined belief only shows up in print in the late 1800s, despite popular stories about the Knights Templar.
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