Knock on wood By Gabby Gallardo

I often find myself blurting out “knock on wood” when someone says something I don’t want to be jinxed. From “I feel like I did good on that test” to “COVID cases seem to be dying down”, without fail I always say “knock on wood” and scramble to find anything that is made out of wood to knock on. I would never call myself a superstitious person; I never wince when I walk under a ladder at work or panic about years of bad luck when I break a mirror. Rather, I leave it fate to decide what will happen. That being said, I believe that there are things that we can do in our day-to-day lives that increase our control over our fates, with knocking on wood being the simplest example.

The history of the “knock on wood” phrase is disputed, yet all of the proposed origins share the idea that people are trying to promote good fortune and protection. The most popular origin story comes from the ancient pagan cultures that believed gods and spirits lived in trees and that knocking on the trees would serve as a call to protect their future or from evil. Another story comes from early Catholics that used to shake wooden rosaries during their prayer, believing that praying with the rosary would allow them to dismiss their indulgent sins. The most obscure origin story comes from the Tiggy Touchwood game played by children living in Britain during the 19th century. The game Tiggy Touchwood resembles modern-day sharks and minnows. One child stands out and is called “Tiggy” while the other children touch a piece of wood. One by one, the children let go of their wooden object and try to run across the field without Tiggy tagging them “out”. Holding a piece of wood means that the children are safe from being tagged, essentially protecting them from the “bad outcome”. Although we still do not know this superstition’s origin, the tradition of knocking wood has undoubtedly been passed down for generations as the good luck practice we know it today.

Although I do not pray to wooden rosaries, believe there are gods in wood, nor touch wood so as to not be tagged in a game, I still knock on wood for good luck. From my grades, my friends’ health, to current events, I always say “knock on wood” when the future is not assured. Although I rarely knock on wood—or my forehead when there's no wood in sight—I have found that whenever I knock on wood what I say often comes to pass. This phenomenon could just be attributed to my illusory correlation between knocking on wood and my desired outcome. However, I choose to believe that knocking on wood has caused my manifestation to become true.