Friday, May 18, 2012

Well, what do you know?...... the wishbone

......... so I was browsing through one of my favorite online home decor shops recently, High Street Market, and I fell in love with this wishbone objet (I know, I'm supposed to be paring down):


anyway..... it got me thinking.... what is the significance of the whole wishbone thing anyway?..... it's not something I've ever done...... the dueling pinkie pull of the wishbone, that is, as I'm more than a little squeamish when it comes to animal parts...... but seems like something I should know if I was planning on displaying one around my home somewhere or giving it as a gift.  Well, here is what I found out:

"The tradition of two people simultaneously snapping the collarbone of a bird in two and the bearer of the larger half making a wish began 2,400 years ago. The Etruscans, who lived on the Italian peninsula, believed fowl were fortunetellers because the hen announced she would be laying an egg with a squawk and the rooster told of the coming of a new day with his early morning crowing. A circle was drawn in the dirt and divided into twenty wedges that represented the twenty letters in the Etruscan alphabet. A piece of grain would be placed in each wedge. A hen would then be allowed to peck at the grain. As she ate, a scribe would list the letters in order and those letters would be interpreted by the high priests to answer questions.
When one of these chickens was killed, its collarbone was considered sacred and left under the hot sun to dry. Anyone was permitted to hold an unbroken bone and make a wish, thus, the name wishbone. The Romans took many of the Etruscan customs as their own and because everyone wanted good fortune, they fought over the bones, breaking them.
It is said that the phrases “I need a lucky break” or “I never get a break” come from being the loser in this tug-of-chicken-bone contest.
The English heard of this superstition from the Romans and called their wishbones merry-thoughts. When the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock in the New World, they brought along the custom of breaking the wishbone. When they discovered the Northeastern woods of North America were filled with turkeys, they changed their custom from the chicken bone to the turkey bone."
-from www.greenlightwrite.com/wishbone.htm
Do you remember that 80's saying "things that make you go hmmmm?" :)
Have a great weekend everyone!

7 comments:

  1. I am a bit of a history nerd so I loved this post!

    things that make you hmmm hmmm hmmm :)

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  2. Why did you show me this website. There is an end table I am dying for...jsut a cool $495!

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    1. I know.... this girl has an amazing eye for good stuff!

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  3. Fun Crissy ~ I didn't know that! As kids, we would {fight} over the wish bone and I guess my husband and I didn't pass on that tradition because my kids never did :)

    Have fun this weekend!

    leslie

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  4. how cool! i've always wondered what the story behind the wishbone was. and i LOVE the decorative one in the photograph! happy weekend :)

    - l

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  5. So interesting , I love it. I'll have to pass on my new found knowledge to my kids, they love stuff like this.

    Of course I've heard of that saying, I even have a blog post titled after it (August 2011).

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  6. Always interesting to know the orgins of things!

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Thanks for sharing!