They’re After Me Lucky Charms

image from Photobucket.com, Photographer Ricardo Guevara

Mario Diaz here again. While driving around Los Angeles, or wherever you may live, have you ever noticed the little stuffed animals hanging from the bumpers and tow loops on cars? I noticed this mostly on the tuner cars, the modified import cars. I asked the people that have them why they do it, but I never got a good answer. So I decided to do some searching…. This was the best reason I could find, but I’m not sure this is the origin of the trend:

“It’s Thai belief that hanging a stuffed toy from your bumper or tow loop is like paying some sort of honor or last respect to the spirits of people who died on the roads as a result of car accidents… The understanding is that the spirit is amused by the object (stuffed animal or other) and therefore doesn’t cause mischief to drivers. Nice right?. Think of it as a sort of good luck charm. ” From Fuzzpaw.

Other threads I read noted that people are simply copying what they have seen on tuner cars from other countries. They modify their cars to look like the tuners, including the toy. Without even knowing the reason, the car owners continue the trend. I always thought it was weird. Fuzzpaw gives it a good spin, and a lot of  people do carry some kind of good luck charm. I see things like rosaries, dream catchers, fuzzy dice and saints all the time.

I don’t hang anything in my car or out. My wife, on the other hand, likes to hang silver Mardi Gras beads from the rear view mirror. When I drive I take them off. When she drives she puts them right back on and so it goes.

How about you? Do you have  fuzzy toys dangling from your bumper? Do you have any weird stuff  hanging from your rear view mirror or sitting on the dashboard?