Why does spilling wine bring good luck? Why is it considered a sign of good luck? What are the origins of this belief? Read our article. We have some curiosities to tell you.

Why does spilling wine bring good luck?

Spilling wine accidentally is a gesture that, in Italian folk tradition, is considered a good omen. Some people say that only red wine brings good luck. Most people think that any type of spilled wine is connected to good luck. But why does spilled wine on the table or on the floor bring good luck? How can this belief be explained?

We can identify three reasons that try to give an answer to this widespread idea.

1. Spilling wine brings good luck because wine is considered a symbol of abundance

Wine is a symbol of conviviality and prosperity. Spilling it unintentionally has been considered, at least since the Middle Ages, a very good sign, as if the abundance associated with wine left the glass and moved to the person who poured it unintentionally.

2. Spilling wine brings good luck because it recalls the libations

In the times of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, libations were practiced. Libations were ritual offerings to the deities that, among other purposes, also had that of ensuring divine protection and benevolence. During these rituals, liquid substances, including wine, were poured onto the ground or onto objects.

Spilling wine on the table recalls this custom, obviously losing any sacred or religious value. It is the practical correspondence of the gesture that led to their association. For this reason, many people thought that the act of spilling wine was a positive sign.

3. Spilling wine brings good luck because it prevented poisoning

In the past, from the times of Ancient Greece and Rome to the Middle Ages, during banquets it often happened that people tried to poison their enemy by pouring poison into a glass of red wine.

To prevent this deadly situation, the potential victim would have someone else drink the wine first. Or the person requested a toast with the “enemy”. The goal of the toast was to bang the two glasses together forcefully so that a few drops would end up in the other person’s glass. If the other person drinking the wine, it meant that the glass had not been poisoned. In short, the toast was used to verify that there was no poison in the glass.

At the time it was believed that spilling wine that had perhaps been poisoned was a sort of sign of grace, benevolence and divine protection. A sort of divine intervention to ward off poisoning.

Why does spilling wine, wetting your finger and touching your finger behind your ear bring good luck?

In Italy, the most superstitious people, after spilling wine on the table, wet their finger with the spilled wine and then put their finger behind their ear. This is also a ritual that, in Italian popular tradition, is believed to bring good luck.

For some people, it is not "enough" to accidentally spill wine to have good luck, but it is also necessary to wet a finger with the spilled wine and then put it behind the ear.

The reasons that explain this other belief are different to those who believe that pouring wine without intention brings good luck.

The act of wetting the finger and bringing it behind the ear has an apotropaic meaning aimed at warding off bad luck. According to this interpretation, pouring wine is a negative event. That gesture with the finger and the ear transforms bad luck into good luck.

This is not the only possible explanation. There are those who think that the act of touching the ear with the wet finger brings good luck because the ear is one of the parts of the body considered closest and most sensitive, linked to the human soul. According to the supporters of this hypothesis, if wine is a symbol of abundance, after having spilled it, it is necessary to touch behind the ear with the wet finger to transfer the prosperity associated with the wine to the body and the soul.

In short, there are various interpretations to explain why it is believed that spilling wine brings good luck. These were the most widespread, hoping to have satisfied your curiosity.