The origin of the horse-shoe as a charm has been ascribed to its
resemblance to the metallic aureole or _meniscus_ formerly placed over
the heads of images of patron saints in churches, and which is also
represented in ancient pictures of the Virgin.
This aureole, or more properly _nimbus_, was probably of pagan origin,
for in early times circles of stars frequently ornamented the heads of
statues of the gods, as emblematic of divinity. In speaking of certain
ancient relics found in Ireland, Mr. W. G. Wood-Martin (“Pagan Ireland,”
p. 492) says:—
Thin crescentic plates, with the extremities terminating
in flat circular disks, are the ornaments most frequently
discovered. In form they are identical with the half-moonshaped
ornaments in use among the Greeks and Romans, and with the
_nimbi_ on carvings of the Byzantine school; and they differ
but little from the ring which now is conventionally placed
around the head of a saint. Thus this glory can be traced
back to pagandom. The crescentic plate appears to have been
primarily the badge of some distinguished person, a chief
or king; then it became the emblem of one considered to be
a very holy person, for in Ireland, in the early days of
Christianity, the saints were derived principally from the
aristocracy.
In the collection of the Royal Irish Academy is a golden tiara or diadem,
said to have been found in County Clare. This relic, which measures about
a foot in height and the same in breadth, is thought to have been a
head-dress of some pagan or early Christian chieftain.
In the earlier years of the church these crescent symbols were avoided as
savoring of heathenism; but without any thought of its significance, it
became customary in the Middle Ages to place a circular brass plate upon
the heads of statues as a protection from snow or rain. Hence arose the
practice of similarly adorning images and paintings in churches.[217]
In later times these crescent-shaped pieces of metal were sometimes
nailed up at the entrance of churches, and so came to be regarded
as protective emblems.[218] The horse-shoe was an easily available
substitute for the halo or glory, and so was often placed upon the doors
of churches, especially in the southwest of England, as it was generally
believed in olden times that evil spirits could enter even consecrated
edifices. Aubrey, in his “Miscellanies,” mentions having seen under the
porch of Staninfield Church, in Suffolk, an inscription with the device
of a horse-shoe, intended to exclude witches, and he naïvely remarks that
one would imagine holy water amply sufficient for the purpose.
On the south door of the parish church of Ashby-Foville, in
Leicestershire, were formerly two ancient horse-shoes of great size, one
of them measuring 16 by 11½ inches, or more than twice as large as an
average modern shoe.
As it does not seem likely that such shoes were made to fit horses’
feet, in the absence of traditional information regarding them, it
appears probable that they were intended solely to bar the ingress of
witches.[219]
In St. Martin’s Church, Canterbury, the oldest in England, the sacristan
shows visitors the site of an early English door on the south side,
and a Norman doorway in the middle of the northern wall, both long
since blocked up. Infants to be baptized were formerly brought into the
church by the south entrance, and after the ceremony the north door was
thrown open to permit the egress of evil spirits expelled by baptism.
For in early times demons were believed to come from the north, where
the habitations of the Norse gods were also thought to be. The pagans,
when worshiping their deities, looked towards the north; but Christians
engaged in prayer turned their faces eastward and lifted up their
hands; they regarded the north as “the unblessed heathen quarter.”
The unexplored Arctic regions, where night[220] reigned much of the
time, were thought to belong especially to the Devil, or spirit of
darkness;[221] and the same idea is conveyed in several passages of Holy
Scripture, as, for example, in Jeremiah iv. 6: “I will bring evil from
the north, and a great destruction.”
In the Middle Ages the rose-windows in the north and south transepts of
Lincoln Minster were called the two eyes of the cathedral, the former
being known as the _Dean’s Eye_, ever on the watch against the attacks of
Lucifer, who had his abode “in the sides of the north” (Isaiah xiv. 13);
while the window in the south transept was called the _Bishop’s Eye_,
“courting the influence of the Holy Spirit, of which the south wind was
a type.” Apropos of evil spirits entering consecrated places, there is
a quaint legend about a little stone figure yclept the _Lincoln Imp_,
which is to be seen perched upon a corbel of a column on the north side
of the Angel Choir of the same cathedral. According to one version of
the legend, when Bishop Remigius came to Lincoln, in the year after the
Norman Conquest, the Devil was sorely tried; for until that time he had
had undisturbed control of affairs in the town and neighborhood. In vain
the Evil One sought to hinder the completion of the church, and finally
he waylaid the bishop outside the building and attempted to kill him.
But the good bishop at this critical time called upon the Blessed Virgin
Mary for assistance, and she sent a tempest of wind which so buffeted
and distracted the Devil that he sought refuge inside the church, not
daring to venture out because of the fierce wind, which prevails a good
part of the time even nowadays, and which is still awaiting the Devil’s
reappearance!
The Bishop, we know, died long ago;
The wind still waits, nor will he go
Till he has a chance of beating his foe;
But the Devil hopp’d up without a limp,
And at once took shape as the Lincoln Imp.
And there he sits atop the column,
And grins at the people who gaze so solemn.
Moreover, he mocks at the wind below,
And says, “You may wait till doomsday, O!”[222]
In southern Germany, Bavaria, and Tyrol, the horse-shoe symbol is to
be seen on church-doors, as an emblem of St. Leonard, the guardian and
protector of horses and travelers; and it is usually associated with some
romantic legend, having oftentimes a historic basis. Traditions relating
to horse-shoes on church-doors are, indeed, plentiful in the popular
literature of Germany, and a few examples are given later. St. Leonard’s
Day, November 6, had its special observances. The peasants were wont to
bring their horses to some church dedicated to that worthy, and ride
them thrice around the sacred building, a procedure which was believed
to be highly auspicious.[223] It was, moreover, customary for noblemen,
before starting on an equestrian journey, to fasten a horse-shoe on the
church-door as a votive offering to St. Leonard.[224]
Especial honor is accorded to this saint on the day of his festival, at
Fischhausen, a seaport village in northeastern Prussia. On that occasion
the parish church is surrounded by farm wagons and other vehicles drawn
by gayly decorated horses, for here the country people have a grand
rendezvous; young women in holiday attire drive hither the cows, who
have been brought from their summer quarters in the upland pastures,
that they, too, may participate in the festivities. A religious service,
largely attended by the peasants, is first held in the church, and then
follow the outdoor exercises, of which a chief feature consists in
driving the horses three times around the building at a rapid pace.[225]
During the prevalence of a severe epizoötic in Würtemberg many years
ago, the people removed the shoes from their horses’ feet, and hung them
on the walls of churches as propitiatory offerings. Various other iron
implements, such as chain traces, were thus similarly displayed.
An ancient St. Leonard’s Chapel, in the town of Laupheim, is encircled by
an iron chain, which is said to have been forged from horse-shoes thus
piously contributed.[226] The largest church dedicated to this saint is
at Tölz, in upper Bavaria, and its altar is likewise surrounded by an
iron chain.
Pictures of St. Leonard are sometimes placed upon stable-doors to bring
luck; he is usually represented as holding a pastoral staff, while on one
side is seen a colt or filly, on the other a sick ox, and at his feet is
a ewe lamb.
In northern Germany, St. George, as a successor of Wodan, is one of the
special guardians and protectors of horses. On the festal day of this
saint, April 23, the peasants gather in large numbers around some church
dedicated to him, and their horses and vehicles, numbering sometimes
many hundreds, are drawn up in a circle around the sanctuary. After
the parish priest has delivered a sermon in the church, he comes to
the door and blesses each horse separately as the animal is led past,
meanwhile sprinkling him with holy water. Then the young men mount their
best horses and ride them three times at full speed around the church,
shouting lustily meanwhile.
Jähns remarks that this ceremony is doubtless a relic of some pagan rite,
and that in many places a venerable tree, instead of a Christian church,
is chosen as the place of rendezvous on St. George’s Day. During the ride
around the tree, an aged peasant standing in its shade throws upon each
horse, as it passes, a little moist earth taken from about the roots of
the sacred tree, and this insures the animal against sickness until the
following spring, especially if some of the earth be placed in a bag and
hung up in the stable.
As the hammer was Thor’s emblem, so the horse-shoe has been thought to
possess a certain mystic significance as a symbol of the heathen god
Wodan; and it has been assumed that the ancient churches, upon whose
doors horse-shoes are still to be seen, were built upon the sites of
pagan temples dedicated to that deity. It has been argued, moreover,
that the modern use of a horse-shoe as a talisman, and the placing of
horses’ heads on peasants’ houses, are relics of heathendom, and have a
mysterious affinity with the hoof-print legends of Teutonic mythology.
Such a theory appears plausible enough in view of the fact that many of
the superstitious customs and beliefs of modern times are known to have
existed before the Christian era.