Dear friends,

Sometimes you have to travel far to find the answers to the most simple questions. In my case, to the ancient ruins of Pompeii, in the south of Italy. I am usually not a fan of walking around in scorching heat, on 2000 years old stones, but this visit was very much worth it. You will read more about this particular trip in another post, as in this one I would like to focus on a very funny occurrence.

We met our guide, Franco, at the gates of Pompeii. Right after introducing himself, Franco tells us from the very beginning that his mother affectionately calls him Francino. The question in everyone’s mind, especially because Franco is around 50, more wide than tall and sweating profusely, is if he mentioned this particular detail because he expects us, perfect strangers to call him that. He didn’t bother to explain, but I believe that Franco is just very Italian and more than that…very Napolitano and he just had to bring up his momma in the very first sentence.

As he goes on and on about the history, the tragedy, the facts and data and the adults listen in fascination, I start to doze off and imagine what the world must have been like at the time. I look at the walls of the city and ask one simple question, because I notice something that does not make sense:

For reasons that will make sense in a minute, Francino turns bright red and from that goes through all the spectrum of the red hue. He explains that this symbol was on most house walls at the time because it represents good fortune and fertility. In fact, to this day, Italians believe that it wards off evil eye and misfortune. He finds a smile and he says that it is a true spectacle watching a soccer game in Italy when the men…you know, try to bring all the good fortune to the team they are rooting for.

Well, in the rest of the world, we say and actually perform the gesture, “knock on wood.” But why do we do that? Why don’t we wave or shout something? Franco knows the answer to this question too. Apparently, in the ancient times, people believed that deities lived in the trees. So they would knock on the wood of the tree to ask for help when needed. Isn’t that wonderful? Back in the day, people thought that the world was no taller than a tree and right on top, watching on the well-being of mankind, the gods of right and wrong. Nice times, simpler times.

Good luck to all of you!