Ipuna Black

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone! I like to know about the origin of holidays or traditions. With St. Patrick’s Day, the four-leaf clover and its relationship to “good luck” intrigue me. Who doesn’t want more good luck in his/her life?  So here you go. A little history on St. Patrick’s Day and the meaning behind good luck related to the clover.

5 Facts about St. Patrick’s Day

• St. Patrick’s Day occurs annually on March 17 in observance of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
• St. Patrick’s Day began as a religious feast day in the 17th century and has evolved into a variety of festivals across the globe celebrating Irish culture with parades, special foods, music, dancing, and a whole lot of green.
• At the annual New York City St. Patrick’s Day, participants march up 5th Avenue from 44th Street to 86th Street. Each year, between 150,000 and 250,000 marchers take part in the parade.
• There are 34.7 million U.S. residents with Irish ancestry. This number is more than seven times the population of Ireland itself.
• Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dish.

History Behind the Three-Leaf and Four-Leaf Covers

• Four-leaf clovers are associated with St. Patrick’s Day, but they are in centuries-old legends as symbols of good luck.
• In the early days of Ireland, the Druids (Celtic priests), believed that when they carried a three-leaf clover or shamrock, they could see evil spirits coming and have a chance to escape in time.
• Druids used four-leaf clovers as charms and believed they offered magical protection to ward off bad luck.
• Children in the Middle Ages thought if they carried a four-leaf clover, they would be able to see fairies.

Luck in Our Lives

In a previous post, I discussed hard work and luck. Whenever you are aiming for a goal that is difficult to achieve, your (real) friends will often tell you, “Good luck!”

Do you believe in “luck?”

How much of your success is from luck?

Do I believe in luck?

I believe in luck for sure. Here is one example. In 2014, I attended my first writer’s conference. There were about 15 faculty members there. We had the opportunity to get our first 5 pages of our manuscript critiques by one of the faculty members (e.g., agent, editor, author). There were two catches.

1. Only 15 people out of approximately 150 who attended the conference received this opportunity because each faculty member only critiqued one writer’s 5 pages.
2. You could only request 1 faculty member. If more than one writer requested that faculty member, the name of the one writer who was “lucky” enough to get that faculty member would be randomly selected.

Knowing these odds, I reviewed the bios of each faculty member and requested a person (let’s call her faculty B) who I thought had a lower chance of being requested. I really wanted agent A, but this person was “big time.” I was sure that everyone would select this agent. Shortly after my request, I received an email indicating that faculty B was already selected, but for some “odd” reason, not all of the faculty members had been chosen. I put in a request for agent A, but I indicated that I was sure this agent was selected and to give me any person who was left. Well, I received agent A. I think this was “luck.”

Agent A and I talked for almost an hour at the conference reviewing my 5 pages and my future plans as a writer. The story doesn’t end with a contract with agent A, but agent A gave me an incredible referral to an editor who had worked for Viking Publishing for over 10 years. It was an AMAZING experience working with her. I would have never known about this editor if it wasn’t for my “lucky” experience.

Some call it luck. Some call it an answer to their prayers. Some call it the universe aligning. Whatever you want to call it, the situation often occurs out of nowhere and at the perfect time.

How much of my success is from luck?

I feel that luck exists, but you can’t depend on luck alone. You have to be persistent in pursuing your goals to achieve success. Therefore, I think you need luck 🍀 and persistence  😅 to be successful. [But grit (passion + persistence) often finds luck.]

What about you?

Do you believe in “luck?”

How much of your success is from luck?

Image Credit: Strong Team

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