Charms
People have always picked up a charm for someone else. Send one on.
Legendary
5 kinds
Pixiu
A beast with no way out for what it swallows. Kept facing the window, and nobody else touches it.
Qilin
Said to appear before a sage is born. In 1414 a giraffe reached Nanjing and was taken for one.
Dragon Turtle
Dragon head out toward the door, turtle shell in, with a small turtle riding on its back.
Griffin
Herodotus heard it guarded gold in the far north, and that one-eyed men kept stealing it.
Firebird
Ivan caught one feather; the bird got away. That feather is how the whole story starts.
Epic
5 kinds
Jin Chan
Three legs, a coin in its mouth, sitting on more. Never placed facing the front door.
Cornucopia
A goat's horn Zeus broke off as a baby. It has been pouring out food ever since.
Five Emperor Coins
Five Qing reigns on one red cord. Laid under the threshold, or carried in the wallet.
Tumi
A ceremonial knife of soft gold, too soft to cut. Peruvian walls hang one for luck now.
Scarab
Laid over a mummy's heart, with a spell asking the heart not to testify against its owner.
Rare
8 kinds
Daruma
Sold with both eyes blank. One eye for the wish, the other when it comes true.
Gold Ingot
The shape money had before coins were round. Set out at New Year; folded from paper for the ancestors.
Hamsa
Painted on house walls across the Maghreb, and over the door where a newborn sleeps.
Pysanka
Drawn in hot wax on a raw egg, at night, in Lent's last week. One goes to the hens.
Koi
Bred by rice farmers in Niigata for winter food. The carp that climbs the falls becomes a dragon.
Dala Horse
Carved from slow pine in Dalarna, nine pairs of hands per horse. It began as a winter toy.
Lucky Pineapple
In Taiwanese it sounds like 'prosperity comes'. Shops set one out on opening day. Fire stations don't.
Lucky Elephant
Trunk up or trunk down, every seller will tell you which. In India it meant royalty long before luck.
Common
12 kinds
Maneki-neko
It sits by the shop door, paw up, holding a gold coin it never spends.
Four-leaf Clover
Children in the Middle Ages carried one hoping to see the fairies. Finding it is still the whole point.
Horseshoe
Seven nails over the door. Which way is up depends on which village you ask.
Glücksschwein
Given on New Year's Eve, usually in marzipan, sometimes small enough for a wallet.
Nazar
Pinned to a newborn's blanket. When it cracks, it has done its job and is replaced.
Cornicello
In Naples it has to be a gift. Buying your own is said to spoil it.
Acorn
Oak belongs to the thunder god. English curtain pulls were carved as acorns to keep lightning from the window.
Cowrie Shell
It was money in West Africa into the 1900s. Sixteen of them, thrown on a mat, still tell fortunes.
Red Envelope
New bills, an even number, never four. Opened later, not in front of the giver.
Omamori
Kept in a purse or bag for about a year, then returned to the shrine to be burned.
Wishbone
Dried after dinner, then snapped between two people. The longer half keeps the wish.
Ladybug
When one lands, people wish, then watch which way it flies. The luck comes from that direction.