According to all I’ve been reading, the tradition of the wishbone began with the Etruscans.

But who, exactly, were the Etruscans? Was there once an Etruscia? and if so, where?

Actually it was Etruria and an ancient country located between the Arno and Tiber Rivers on the western side of Italy. One of the more interesting things I ran across was that the language of Etruria, now extinct, is not known to be related to any other language though scholars have tried to connect it to Basque, Sumerian, Elamito and the languages of the Caucasus.

Disappearing people, language long gone — but the importance of the wishbone continues on.

Modern Farmer told me that whenever the Etruscans slaughtered a chicken they would harvest its wishbone and set it out in the sun to dry in hopes of preserving the chicken’s “divine powers.” The chicken, obviously dead, didn’t much approve of the tradition, probably not caring much about it one way or the other. To continue: “a passerby would then pick up the bone in order to hold it in their hands and softly stroke it while making wishes upon it. This is where the wishbone got its modern name.”

Two other sources credit the Romans as getting it all started but Modern Farmer continues: “When the Romans came in contact with the Etruscans, they took hold of the custom. As legend has it, today’s ritual of breaking the wishbone first emerged because of a supply and demand problem. So many Romans wanted to make wishes upon the chicken’s furcula that there weren’t enough wishbones to go around.”

I need to back up to clarify two points —

Yes, the wishbone is properly called the furcula which, I suspect we all know, is located between the turkey’s breast and neck, formed by the bird’s clavicles at the base of its sternum. An elastic bone, it serves as a spring while the bird (obviously still alive in this case), trying to get off the ground, flaps its wings.

And, secondly, those old Italians were using chickens.

Back to our history lesson: the ancient Romans headed north, traveling through Europe while carrying the tradition with them. The English eventually picked up the good luck tradition in the 16th century where it was referred to as “merrythought” and brought it to Plymouth Rock. Those wily Pilgrims played tug-of-war with the wishbones of the more plentiful turkeys though the name “wishbone” didn’t appear until the mid-1800s, about the time President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday.

But why a chicken? Those same ancient Romans believed the birds were oracles that could predict the future and preserving the bones would give people access to the mystical powers of said chicken even after eating it. Breaking the bone apart ultimately evolved so more could share the luck.

Looks like everybody has good luck charms. I read about rabbit’s foot, lentils and white socks, though the latter two were definitely new to me. But why a chicken in the first place?

A very different source explains it this way. The Etruscans used to play a sort of primitive Ouija-board game by placing the letters of their alphabet in the shape of a circle. Next to each letter a small pile of corn would be placed. One person would ask a question and then a chicken was set loose to run around the circle, taking corn from the piles next to the letters that formed the answer to the question.

After the chicken was finished, it was sacrificed and its collarbone (the wishbone) dried. The person who had originally asked the question now got to make a wish, and the bone was given to two others to pull apart. The one who got the larger section was said to have gotten a “lucky break” and could then make a wish of his own. (Having consistently lost games of tic-tac-toe to a chicken in Monterey, California, I can believe this.)

As a slight aside, I found a column written by Christine Gallary describing culinary school in Paris. There the chefs always insisted “le wishbone” be cut out of the whole chicken before it was cooked. That meant, she insisted, that carving the whole bird was much easier since there wasn’t that awkward bone to cut around. Try it and impress your guests. (Well, maybe.)

Sadly, it doesn’t seem to merit mention in my almost-never-used “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” though the internet has a marvelous picture of Julia Child holding up an uncooked (but oven-ready) large bird by its spread feet.

To wrap this up, I don’t imagine any reading this don’t know that the wishbone has to be totally dried before it can be cracked. Some people set it aside from Thanksgiving to Christmas, others give it an entire year while still others might just stick it in the oven to speed up the drying process.

Further tips talk of which hand to use and where to place your fingers but that’s giving away an unfair advantage, I think. You can check that out for yourself or leave it to the whims of fortune.

Isn’t that what good luck is all about?

Susan Crossett has lived outside Cassadaga for more than 20 years. A lifetime of writing led to these columns as well as two novels. Her Reason for Being was published in 2008 with Love in Three Acts following in 2014. Information on all the Musings, her books and the author may be found at Susancrossett.com.