[NancyBrooke]

We've all heard of the concept of scape goat - the tribe or whatever symbolically places their sins on the head of a goat and turns it out into the desert and so is absolved ...

But is there an opposite? A kind of positive voodoo doll? That symbolically or emotionally one would poor good wishes on someone or embue that person with perceived good qualities so that they (the wishers, as it were) could partake of the other's goodness?

Anybody ever heard of such a thing?

[Saralitazie]

Noooope.....can't say I have. But that's probably because voodoo is generally associated with bad schtuff.. and people wanting to bestow good that badly usually get out and just do something!

Interesting idea. Hm. Damn. Now I can't go buy a voodoo doll and name it after Amber and torture it. I'd feel too guilty

[Robbie]

I would put any deity as the opposite. As opposed to someone you blame for things going wrong, that is someone you worship for things going right.

Either that or the representative of a deity (Vicar, priest, rabbii etc)

[Moralanqua]

What about a blessed font?

The water in the font is sacred and pure and so is blessed with positive and lovely energy. People go past it and get to dab themselves with a drop of that water/energy and so many can partake of the blessing at once and share the goodness?

(Just make sure you washed your hands after coming from the toilet! Yellow 'blessed' water aint so nice.)

[queenoftheshire]

Hmm...

I actually think I might have...
But I don't think you'd call it a voodoo doll.
There are plenty of dolls and figurines people have used for ages to protect themselves and their families, if that's what you're talking about.

[Haleth]

The only thing that comes close is a sacrifice of thanksgiving. The end results were usually not happy for the sacrifice, though.

There were certainly animals kept for luck, like the sacred geese of Rome.

Given the way that humans react when things go wrong, I don't think I'd want to be the mascot or good luck charm when a village's luck turned bad.

[NancyBrooke]

Thank you all for responding.

But I guess in trying to frame my original question I made it kind of misleading.

Going for something superstitious here:
I was wondering what you might call a person who those around him might perceive as so good they behave better around him, and kind of invest him, emotionally, with the responsibility of carrying that good. LIke, we're all jaded and tired and along comes this enthusiastic kid. If he goes away, we're all going to go back to being jaded and tired again.

The opposite of a Jonah, it occurs to me.

Does that make any sense?

It's for fic, naturally. It's not critical to the story, but it would be a very nice bit of texture. If there is no such thing, that's cool ... I was just spinning the ol' grey matter around.

[Haleth]

It sounds like you're talking about someone who is very charismatic.

I don't know if there is a specific way to describe them. Leader or role-model might come close. Or possibly even hero.