Except for not changing a golf ball when things are going well, even if the ball’s smiling at me (that means it’s cut), I’m not particularly superstitious. Well, except for playing the same numbers in lotto. Oh, and there is that spilling the salt thing. And I don’t walk under ladders (or up them, either). Plus, there is wearing red golf shirts on Sunday because that’s what the best golfer in the world does. And…
Okay, we all have our quirks.
I’m just not sure I buy into the ceremonial insertion of a coin during the building of a ship. Now, I am being asked to believe that because the Carnival Magic — due to start making its way to Galveston from Europe next spring — has had a commemorative coin welded to its mast while under construction in Italy, all is good. And I was naive enough to think all was good just because it was a nice cruise ship!
Yes I know at the Olympics in Salt Lake City the Canadians buried a “loonie” at center ice prior to the Games and both the men and the women beat the U.S. in the finals to win the gold medal “because of it.”
This has been going on (coins hidden in ships, not ice) since Roman times, when the “coin ceremony” was thought to provide a ship with divine protection. This leaves us to believe that all the ships that sunk — in war and in peace — were without coin.
I know, I know…it’s just one of this silly ceremonial superstitions. But I kinda like the one with the champagne on the bow better.