Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone. For us non-Hibernians out there, many will be wearing green and hoping some of that luck of the Irish rubs off on us today.

Luck isn’t limited to the Irish. In Hawai’i, we attract Lady Luck in several ways. It reflects how the islands have for centuries now become a place where very different cultures find a place amongst each other.

A common method found here and on the Mainland are iron horseshoes hanging over their doorways to attract good luck. But the more common method here are ti leaves.

Green ti plants are found in tropical Asia, Australia and all over the Pacific. Native Hawaiians introduced them to Hawai’i and to this day they can be found on every major island with the exception of Kahoolawe.

Native Hawaiians used ti leaves or ki for medicinal purposes. Boiled leaves made a soothing tea that calms the nerves and relaxes muscles. Leaves were wrapped with other plants and steamed to make hot packs. The roots were later boiled and brewed into an intoxicating liquor called okolehao.

Perhaps these versatile uses made them sacred in precontact Hawai’i. The plants themselves were associated with the god Lono and Laka, the goddess of hula. They were believed to ward off evil spirits.

That belief is still held in the islands. That’s why most homes and churches have healthy rows and clusters of ti leaves nearby. It’s why ti leaf leis are good luck tokens for people traveling or getting ready for a new chapter in their life. If you’ve got to wear green today, perhaps pin a part of the ti leaf to you.

But that’s not the only bringer of good luck in Hawai’i. We can’t forget the cats. In local restaurants, stores and most small businesses in Hawai’i, you’ll find the maneki-neko, the beckoning cat. A white, black or sometimes sparkling gold feline with a ribbon and bell around its neck and a very serious face and one arm raised waving hello. In the other arm, the cat is holding a round coin. Sometimes it says 10 million ryo, a huge sum of money from a long disused Japanese currency.

The figurine of the maneki-neko comes from Japan. The origins of this good luck cat are murky. One story takes us back to a temple in Tokyo during the Edo period between the 17th through 19th centuries. Legend has it that a local ruler was out hunting when Tama, the temple’s pet cat, beckoned him to come inside. He did and that saved him from a bolt of lightning. To show his thanks and appreciation, the ruler became a patron of the temple and a shrine for the cat was built.

The Gotoku-ji temple is still around and visitors from around the world come to see (and purchase) hundreds of white, ceramic figurines of Japanese bobtails with the red pointy ears.

But there’s another story about a good-luck cat. In 1852, an old woman became so poor and destitute that she couldn’t feed her pet cat anymore. She was forced to let it go. Of course, the cat came to her in a dream and instructed her to make dolls in its image to bring good fortune. And of course, she did what the dream cat asked and started selling figurines at the gates of the temple. It caught on and she was able to make enough money to not only feed and keep her cat but get out of poverty.

The Japanese immigrants who came to Hawai’i not long after the woman had her dream in the 1850s brought their stories and superstitions with them. Since cats were considered good luck there, the tradition spread here in the islands. As these families moved off of sugar plantations and started small businesses, it was only natural to put a maneki-neko figurine in a prominent place for everyone to see.

Ti leaves and maneki-neko are just two examples of the ways we attract good luck in Hawai’i.

And that brings me to my last point. This is my last column for the Maui News. It was a sad decision, but I’m leaving the paper on good terms and I’ve decided that the time is right. It has been a tremendous privilege and great pleasure writing for this newspaper. When I think about how it has given me a place to write about our local history, our culture and stories about Hawai’i, I consider myself lucky. Mahalo nui loa.

* Ben Lowenthal is a trial and appellate lawyer, currently with the Office of the Public Defender, who grew up on Maui. His email is 808stateofaloha@gmail.com.