Crossing finger to reach your own good fate , or in a display of hopeful solidarity that things go well for someone else , is a wide recognise motion . The finger - crossing has a longhistory — and , originally , it was not a solo deed .
There are two main hypothesis regarding the origin of finger - crossing for luck . The first come from a pre - Christianpagan beliefin the powerful symbolism of a crisscross . The intersection was thought to mark a concentration of good booze and help to anchor a wish until it could come true . The practice of wishing upon a cross in early European cultures evolved to a tradition in which a individual crossed their indicant finger over someone else ’s to express Leslie Townes Hope that a wishing would come up dependable . finally , wish - makers realized they could go it alone and impart the welfare of stool a cross to plunk for their wish without another person ’s participation . At first , this took the form of a person crossing theirtwo index fingers . finally this gesture morphed into the one - handed drill we still expend today .
Thealternate explanationalso stem from the other daytime of Christianity , when practitioners were ofttimes persecute for their beliefs . To discern their fellow Christians , people developed a serial of hand gestures , one of which involve forming theichthys , orfishsymbol , by touching thumb and crossing forefinger fingers . Thesymbolrepresents anacrosticin which the Grecian lettersi , ch , th , y , andsare also the first letters in the phraseIēsous Christos , Theou Yios , Sōtēr , which in English intend “ Jesus Christ , Son of God , Savior . ” This possibility does n’t fully explain how luck initially became associated with the motion , but it paint a picture that crossing one ’s finger imparted a blessing or hope for a wish or prayer .
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A version of this story was release in 2012 ; it has been updated for 2024 .
