It has been supposed that the horse-shoe is placed at the _outer_
entrance to a building because of an ancient Saxon superstition that
witches were unable successfully to practice their wiles upon persons in
the open air.[185] The horse-shoe effectively bars the ingress of witches
and evil spirits, but an entrance once obtained by these creatures, it is
powerless to expel them. Therefore the horse-shoe within doors loses much
of its efficacy, but is still an emblem of good luck.
Placed on the outside of the door, or above the entrance of a dwelling,
or upon the threshold, the horse-shoe is easily first among the
inveterate foes of witches and devils generally.
Laugh if you will, who imps nor devils fear,
Whom death appals not, phantoms come not near;
Along whose nerves no quick vibrations dart,
As teeming twilight’s shadowy offspring start;
Not yours to feel the joy with which I flew
To snatch the rusty, worn, but lucky shoe.
Oft have I heard them chattering at my door,
The hags whose dances beat the shrinking moor;
Oft have I sprung from nightmare-haunted rest,
And gasped an _oro_ from my panting breast,
As forms that vanished ere the half-shut eye
With fright could open, from their revels fly.
Henceforth, good horse-shoe, vain shall be their ride:
Their spells are baffled and their rage defied.[186]
Edward Moor, in his “Oriental Fragments” (p. 455, London, 1834), relates
having once, in company with a gang of urchins, nailed a donkey-shoe
under the threshold of a poor woman in Suffolk who was suspected of
sorcery. He and his youthful companions endeavored thus to keep her all
night within doors, as witches cannot cross iron.
An English writer[187] tells of having heard an animated discussion in
the parlor of a London beer-shop as to whether it were preferable to
nail a horse-shoe _behind the door_ or upon _the first doorstep_; and
instances of extraordinary good luck were mentioned as the direct result
of the potency of the amulet in each position.
But there are weighty reasons for the selection of the front door, or the
parts immediately connected with it, as the proper place for the display
of horse-shoes as household guardians.
In the earliest historic times, and in primitive communities, the
entrance of a dwelling was considered a sacred place; and in the opinion
of eminent scholars who have made a study of the subject, the threshold
was the first family altar. A peculiar reverence for the doorway and
threshold prevails to-day in many parts of the world, as is evident from
the numerous ceremonial rites in vogue among widely separated savage
tribes and uncivilized peoples.[188] Indeed, the custom of placing
amulets and charms in and about the entrance-doors of houses, stables,
and other buildings is almost universal. In Russia a cross is marked on
the threshold to keep witches away. In Lithuania, when a house is being
built, a wooden cross, or some article which has been handed down from
past generations, is placed under the threshold. There, also, when a
newly baptized child is being brought back from church, it is customary
for its father to hold it for a while over the threshold, “so as to
place the new member of the family under the protection of the domestic
divinities.” Sick children who are supposed to have been afflicted by
an evil eye are washed on the threshold of their cottage, in order that
with the help of the Penates who reside there, the malady may be driven
out of doors.[189]
Under the threshold of the Assyrian palaces at Nineveh were found certain
images of grotesque monsters, as, for example, a human form with the head
of a lynx, and a lion’s body with a man’s head, which were intended as
tutelary deities.[190]
John Netten Radcliffe, in his “Fiends, Ghosts, and Sprites” (p. 43,
London, 1854), says that the horse-shoe superstition is a remnant or
relic of the worship of household guardians or divinities,—a practice
still in vogue among the natives of Ashantee, and also among the Bhutas
of Hindostan. In some English counties, naturally perforated stones are
hung behind the door; and in Glamorganshire the walls of the houses
are whitewashed in order to terrify wandering spirits of evil. Whether
successful or not for this purpose, the custom is certainly effective as
a destroyer of the demoniac germs of certain diseases.
The French Canadians are not the least superstitious of mankind, neither
do they wholly neglect to take due precautions against the admittance to
their homes of evil spirits.
They do not answer “Entrez!” when a knock is heard at the door, but
call out “Ouvrez!” This custom is said to have originated from a
current tradition regarding a young woman who once answered “Entrez!” in
response to a knock, whereupon the Devil promptly came in and carried
her away.[191] Where such legends find open-mouthed credence, it does
not appear strange that horse-shoes and other talismans should be at a
premium.
In Tuscany magical medicines are taken upon the threshold, which also
plays an important part in sorcery. One reason assigned for this fact
is that the threshold forms the line separating the outer world, where
demons are rampant, from the domestic precincts, where human beings dwell.
One writer affirms it to be a fixed law in demonology that spirits cannot
cross the threshold and enter a house unless previously invited to do so,
but adds that there are many exceptions to this rule.[192] The weight of
evidence does not support this view, for mischievous fairies and witches
are known to rudely disregard the laws of etiquette, and do not wait for
an invitation to enter dwellings. This fact is, indeed, a chief _raison
d’être_ for the use of talismans at the entrance of habitations.
The residents of the beautiful Thuringian Forest region, in whose
neighborhood these lines chanced to be penned, are wont to affix
horse-shoes to the thresholds of their chamber-doors, lest some rude
goblin enter and disturb their slumbers. But the fastidiousness of these
sylvan folk is not content with an ordinary shoe, even though found on
the road and venerable with rust; in order to serve its purpose as a
talisman, a Thuringian horse-shoe must have been forged by a bachelor of
wholesome life and good character, on Saint John’s Eve.[193]
In German households, the horse-shoe over the door is believed to afford
protection against divers apparitions, as well as against the Devil,
witchcraft, lightning, sickness, and evils of every sort.
The cross, symbol of the Christian faith, is the most potent of all
talismans, but is seldom seen at the entrance of dwellings. In some Roman
Catholic countries the crucifix is, indeed, everywhere conspicuous, not
only in churches and shrines, but by the roadside, in fields, and on the
outer walls of houses, but it is rarely placed at the front door. In
Hungary, however, the Magyars mark with black chalk the figure of a cross
upon their stable-doors, and also brand anew thereon the sacred emblem
each year at Christmas time.
The respect paid by the inhabitants of Tibet to their household
divinities somewhat resembles the worship of their _Lares_ by the Romans
of old, and finds a parallel in the honor accorded to the favorite amulet
of Western civilization, the horse-shoe.
The Tibetans set up above the entrances of their houses complex
talismans, composed of various mystical objects, such as a ram’s skull
with horns attached, having displayed along the base of the skull pieces
of carved wood representing a man and woman, a house, and other symbols;
the idea being to deceive the demons, and to make them believe that these
objects are the real dwelling and its inmates. The Tibetans believe that
the demons are thus tricked, and that the wooden images are the victims
of their mischievous designs.[194]
Far away among the nomadic tribes of Turkestan, horse-shoes are
occasionally seen nailed to the thresholds of dwellings in the vicinity
of the ancient city of Merv; and within doors, near the entrances of
these peculiar habitations, which resemble mammoth parrot cages, pieces
of linen or calico, four or five inches square, are seen upon the felt
wall-lining, to serve as receptacles for the free-will offerings of such
wandering spirits as may pass the magic barriers of the horse-shoes.[195]
In some regions there still prevails a time-honored custom of placing
over the chief entrances of dwellings inscriptions, embodying usually
a religious thought or exhortation. Sometimes, however, the sentence
commends the house and its occupants to the care of the goddess Fortune,
thus having a significance akin to that of the horse-shoe symbol. In
the year 1892 the writer copied many inscriptions found above the doors
of houses in northern Italy and Switzerland, some of them being written
in Latin, others in German, French, Italian, and the Romansch dialect,
current in the Engadine. Here, for example, is one from a house in the
Swiss village of Bergun, the original being in German: “This house is in
God’s hand; May Good Luck come in, and Bad Luck stay out! 1673.”
Many of these inscriptions are Biblical verses, which are here used as
talismans, just as the pious Moslem employs sentences from the Koran.
Here, again, is the translation of a German sentence over the door of a
dwelling in the village of Ober-Schönberg, near Innsbruck, Tyrol, copied
in 1897:—
All persons entering this house are recommended to Divine
protection. God and the Virgin Mary guard all such, even though
powerful enemies threaten, and lightnings and thunder rage
without!
Above the door of a house in the village of Welschnofen, near Botzen, the
wayfarer may read the following sentence: “Pray for us, holy Florian,
that fire may not harm our dwelling.” Above the inscription an eye
is painted, while below is a realistic picture of Saint Florian, the
protector of buildings against fire, engaged in pouring water on a
burning roof.
The Bassamese, inhabitants of the Gold Coast of Africa, west of Ashantee,
use certain fetich objects for the protection of their dwellings. These
amulets, which are often merely pieces of wood painted red, or fragments
of pottery, are placed upon the doors of their huts, and are believed to
afford ample protection against thieves.[196] Such a fetich is probably
intended to exclude evil spirits as well, and is, therefore, a substitute
for both the horse-shoe and the watch-dog, those guardians of the
household so popular in civilized communities.
When a modern Egyptian returns from a pilgrimage to Mecca, he fastens
above the entrance of his house a branch of the aloe, which is not only a
proof of his religious zeal in having accomplished the holy journey, but
is also reckoned a protection against objectionable spiritual intruders,
and is, therefore, seen in Cairo over the doors of the houses both of
Christians and Jews.
In northern Scotland, formerly, a branch of the rowan-tree was placed
over a farmhouse door, after having been waved while the words “Avaunt,
Satan!” were solemnly pronounced.[197]
About the year 1850 the Rev. Andrew A. Bonar, who was then assistant
minister in Collace Parish, Perthshire, Scotland, found the custom of
displaying horse-shoes on the doors of farm buildings so prevalent
that he thought it his duty to remonstrate against a practice savoring
of paganism. But his efforts in this direction, though hardly crowned
with success, were yet not wholly without avail, for his superstitious
parishioners removed the guardian horse-shoes from the outsides of the
doors, and nailed them up on the insides.[198]
The _raison d’être_ of the horse-shoe at the entrance of shops and other
frequented buildings has been attributed to a belief that, among the
many people continually passing through the doorway, some one might,
unobserved, bring in ill-luck or work mischief. But these safeguards not
only form a sufficient barrier against obnoxious hags and sorcerers, but
are potent against ghosts and all manner of evil creatures. When the
Oxford undergraduate “sports his oak” to prevent the untimely entrance
of dunning tradespeople, he shuts out friendly visitors as well; but
the faithful horse-shoe, by a process of natural selection, debars only
objectionable spirits, and is a formidable obstacle to the demon of
ill-luck.