How do you say "fingers crossed"?

Question

In English we use the phrase "fingers crossed" to express anticipation of good luck. Except for the word by word translation "dedos cruzados", does Latin American Spanish have an equivalent phrase?

Answer 1

In Spanish we just say cruzar los dedos. From the comment by DGaleano I can also affirm that this is also used in Latin America (or at least in Colombia, where he is from).

Cruza los dedos, ¡empieza el sorteo de la lotería!
_{Cross fingers, the lottery is about to start}

Note your word by word translation is also good: I have also heard dedos cruzados sometimes. Especially when used as an imperative.

For example, in a context of a game, some players may tell each other:

Dedos cruzados, empieza el partido
_{Cross fingers, the match is about to start}

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I by the way found some explanations on the expression. In Significado y origen de expresiones famosas they say:

Se adjudica a los esclavos negros en América del Norte. Aquellos que mutaron sus creencias y se convirtieron a la fe cristiana, cuando estaban esposados o con las manos atadas y no podían usarlas con libertad para formar una cruz o santiguarse, apelaban a cruzar dos dedos de alguna mano para darle forma al símbolo de los cristianos y así invocar a Dios o elevar una plegaria. Se trataba, entonces, de un recurso para practicar la fe ante situaciones adversas, muy alejado del sentido actual. Hoy consiste en un gesto supersticioso, al que se apela para espantar la mala suerte.

But others state other things. In general, though, there is always the underlying idea of making a cross with the fingers to symbol the Christian cross and make it "protect" oneself against the bad luck.

Answer 2

In Mexico they also say "(hacer) changuitos" , which literally translates as "(making) little monkeys".