Spring has outshone old man winter and is constantly “updating” the landscape around here. St. Patty’s Day and Easter have ushered in the spring season. You can see the change in the green halos the old trees proudly display in their branch tresses. We are lucky in Polk County to have ancient oaks, pines, dogwoods, pecans and other trees. If you don’t have them in your yard, you can visit them driving down the highways and byways – or by visiting Lake Livingston.
Standing silently beneath their spreading branches, you can almost hear them breathe and watch them grow. It makes you realize how lucky you are. Recognizing that, you may just reach out and knock on the bark of the tree thanking the spirit who resides there. But have you ever thought about where the expression “knock on wood” comes from?
Turns out there are several explanations, but nothing definitive that answers all. The main saying comes from centuries old practices held by various groups of Indo-European people – depending on which origin story you are researching. Strangely enough, the expression only popped up a little over a hundred years ago. It was first documented in 1905 with the British expression “touch wood” which itself showed up about 1899.
There are various ideas of how his expression came to be, Pagan peoples from India to Ireland believed that trees were inhabited by nature spirits and incorporated them into their worship and rituals. They thought that by knocking on the wood of the tree, you invoked the aid of the benevolent nature spirit living within.
The Irish took this expression on a slightly different tangent. They believed that if you were having a run of good luck, you knocked on wood to thank the “wee people” (leprechauns) for helping you. And if nothing good was happening, you would make offerings of whiskey and food on your threshold before you went to bed and “knocked on wood” to let them know what you had done hoping to gain their favor.
There is another theory of knock on wood – or touch wood – attributed to Christians. The Christians raised the pagan tradition to a higher form. In this case the wood in general meant the cross Christ was crucified on and knocking on this wood invoked Christ’s protection.
Still another version of the expression is attributed to the Jewish faith which originated in the 1490’s during the Spanish Inquisition under the infamous Torquemada. In this version, Jews were running for their lives and as synagogues and temples were built of wood, coded knocks on wood would allow them to enter safe places.
But no matter the origin, “knock on wood” is meant to either bring you good luck or thank the tree spirits for the luck you have been given. At any rate, the trees are greening up, my garden is growing nicely, and I’m feeling lucky. I think I need to go knock on wood – the leprechauns are waiting for me.
