传说兔子的脚可是一件吉祥物，它会给人带来好运。在古老的宗教信仰中，兔子被认为是神圣的，因为有神灵栖身在它身上。兔子果真如此神通吗？为什么后来人们转而用它的脚来代表好运了呢？请看下文分解。

Superstitions, such as a rabbit's foot being considered lucky, grow out of man's attempts to explain the unknown. When man disproves the old belief, and some still cling to the belief, it becomes a superstition. In Western Europe, prior to 600 B.C., man considered rabbits to be sacred, because of their belief that spirits inhabited the bodies of animals, and also because of their belief that man directly descended from a select few of these animals.

Later, the ancient European Celts adopted portions of the older belief, that rabbits were sacred, and that spirits inhabited their bodies. The Celts, based on the fact that these animals spent an inordinate amount of time in their underground burrows, held the belief that the rabbits' bodies were inhabited by numina, underground spirits with whom they communicated at very close proximity!

Another reason the Celts held the rabbit to be sacred was because of their prowess in the field of reproduction. They believed that the numina intended for rabbits to be put upon pedestals and revered as symbols of procreation, reproduction with a high turnover rate, of health, and of prosperity.

Since the rabbit itself was considered to be lucky, it follows that any of its body parts would also be considered lucky. People selected the rabbit's foot to tote around for good luck because of its capacity to dry quickly, its small size, and the fact that it made a great key chain!

prowess: 威力

pedestals: 台子

revered: 敬畏

(英语点津 Annabel 编辑)