Breaking the Wishbone for Luck

Breaking the Wishbone for Luck

The tradition of pulling apart the wishbone, or clavicle, may be as much as 2,500 years old. Ancient Etruscans in what is now Italy kept chickens in their temples to aid priests in interpreting signs of the future. When one of the sacred birds died, the collarbone was dried and saved. Believers would stroke the bone and then make a wish.

The ancient Romans, who came to live in Italy after the Etruscans, believed chickens had special powers. When sacred chicken bones from the temple became scarce, the people began breaking the collarbone of the chicken in half to create more 
bones for others.

The Romans carried the custom with them when they conquered the British Isles. The British were the first to believe good luck would come to the person left with the head of the bone still attached, or the “lucky break.”