Chats on Household CuriosBurgess, Fred. W. (Frederick William)
History
Chats on Household Curios
Burgess, Fred. W. (Frederick William)
Antiques; Collectors and collecting; Interior decoration
Although not necessarily objects to be worn, no doubt charms usually
took the form of something which could be suspended, for the origin of
the word coming to us through the Latin has been traced to an Arabic
word, signifying a pendant. In the early Christian Church the fish was
worn as a symbol or charm, and in many parts of rural England to-day
amulets are kept, and even charms, as preventives against disease. Men
and women buy so-called amulets from the jewellers' shops at the present
time, and wear them on their watch chains or bangles, and round their
necks; but the faith reposed in such charms by the educated classes in
this country may be dismissed as a myth, for few really understand their
true significance, or place any real reliance upon such fanciful relics
of a former age--an age of superstition, when people blindly clutched at
any mysterious protective power or emblem.
Horse Trappings.
Among the commoner emblems of good luck handed down from the far-off
past, are the brass amulets worn on horse trappings even to-day. A set
of brasses consists of a face brass, taking chief place of prominence on
the horse's forehead; two ear brasses, which are seen behind the ears;
ten martingale brasses, worn on the breast; and three brasses suspended
from straps on each of the shoulders. These amulets were primarily worn
to keep off the "evil eye," and thus protect the horse and its rider or
its owner from calamity and harm. The brasses were varied in design,
some of the more important being developments of the crescent moon.
Some were made to imitate the sun with its pointed rays, others the
Catherine wheel; the Kentish horse, too, a relic of Saxon days, has been
frequently used, and there is the lotus flower of Egyptian origin. There
are Moorish and Buddhist symbols, and many curious developments which
have gone far astray from their original types. The agriculturist is
still superstitious, and does not like to lessen the number of these
somewhat weighty brasses suspended from his horse trappings. For
purposes of utility they are useless; they remain, however, a connecting
link with the superstitions of the past, and a collection of such
curious objects is of extreme interest. In Fig. 84 is shown an
exceptionally fine collection got together by Mr. Wayte, of Edenbridge,
who collects many such things.
Emblems of Luck.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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