You're feeling lucky. Things are going well. So out loud, you say something like, oh, nothing can go wrong today. And then the panic sets in. You know what you have to do. You must knock on wood right now. Crisis averted. It's probably a folk thing. Welcome to it's probably a folk thing. The podcast about everyday stuff that turns out to be older, weirder, and way more meaningful than we realized.
I'm Aaron Crawford, and today, we're talking about one of the most low stakes, high priority rituals known to humankind, knocking on wood. You've done it. I've done it. Your grandma definitely does it. We say something mildly optimistic and suddenly we're frantically smacking whatever nearby surface might be wood.
Desk, wall, car dashboard, maybe our own heads. And let's be honest, even people who say, oh, I don't believe in that stuff. Absolutely still do it. Because we don't wanna jinx it because we might be wrong. Because, well, it just feels better to do the knocking.
It turns out we aren't completely sure where this originated. You could find all sorts of people on the Internet who claim one thing or another, and they're fun and maybe even convincing. And, of course, just something someone made up that kind of sounds true. Like, one person claims that it stems from the ancient Celts. The reasoning, according to these Internet purveyors of unsupported hypotheses, is that the Celts worship spirits who inhabited trees.
If you knock on the tree, you or, you know, the remains of the tree, you were a, calling on a friendly spirit to protect you, b, letting the tree spirits know you were humble and don't need any cosmic smackdowns, or c, you're politely telling the universe, hey, please don't mess this up. Others claimed that it was medieval Christians who started the practice. Some link it to touching the wood of the cross. It's one of those rituals that feels universal and ancient even though its roots, pun absolutely intended, aren't as holy or as ancient as the internet posters claim. Where did it come from then?
Well, folklore scholars, Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud, researched the history. The earliest mention of the practice, eighteen o five. And it wasn't to ward off bad luck. It was part of a children's tag game where you were safe as long as you were touching wood. In some places like Italy, they don't touch wood.
Instead, they touch iron. Touching iron is actually older. But before we get all excited and assume this is an ancient ritual to save ourselves from the Fey Folk, and of course, you know, post it on our web pages, you should know that touching iron only dates back to 1738. And sure enough, it was part of a children's tag game. So if it's not an ancient religious practice, why do we do it?
What is the function of this folklore? Psychologists call it magical thinking. Basically, brain knows knocking on a desk won't change the universe but your feelings your feelings don't care. Doing something, even if it's something symbolic, feels better than doing nothing. It's the illusion of control.
Knocking on wood makes us feel like we have some control in a world of chaos. And honestly, we'll take it, especially when we just said something like, oh, I haven't gotten sick all year. Today, people knock on IKEA furniture and hope for the best. Some folks just say, knock on wood out loud like that's enough. Others knock on their own heads.
Is that wood? No. But maybe it's emotionally wooden? There are even apps now that play a knocking sound for you. And if that's not peak twenty first century folk magic, I don't know what is.
So the next time you catch yourself wrapping your knuckles against a table after saying something hopeful, don't worry. You're not being weird. You're participating in a fairly old and very widespread folk tradition. We're all just trying to keep the spirits, the fates, and the algorithms happy. And if that takes a couple of taps on laminate, so be it.
It's definitely a folk thing. Thanks for listening to It's Probably a Folk Thing. If you enjoyed this episode, tap the stars, leave a review, and tell a friend. Then knock on some wood, just in case. Until next time.