Ancients Romans were superstitious about the evil eye. The premise of the evil eye is that some people have the ability to harm others just by looking at them. This concept is seen in many different cultures. In Rome, there was concern that giving the evil eye could harm a nursing mother, children, nursing animals and male fertility.
In order to ward against the evil eye, a variety of amulets were worn. One of the most common amulets is a little horn, called a cornicello charm--pictured below.
Another common charm worn for good luck and to ward off an evil eye was a phallus. The one pictured below is from 100 A.D.
Sadly, we don't have any phallus charms hanging in our house, but we do have a kind of lucky ornament that graces our house. It was a gift from my parents when my husband and I were married--a door ornament from Singapore. The bats around the edges of the ornament are a symbol for luck.
Do you have any lucky charms?
7 comments:
Nope !!
I don't use any lucky charms! But in India (read rural India) the concept and fear of "evil eye" is evident everywhere!!
People use charms (with images of gods) to ward off the evil eye!!
with warm regards
CatchyTips for Writers
I'm giving out awards for the A-Z challenge participants and as I browsed your blog I decided to award you the Powerful Woman Writer Award.
Go to http://astorybookworld.blogspot.com/p/awards.html and pick up your award.
~Deirdra
PS. Always love to see a fellow writers blog. I am in the same query grind. Hang in there and keep up the good work!
My last lucky charm was a rabbit foot (is that even politically correct to own these days?), though I'm fascinated by some of the stories behind these ornaments. Nice to meet you, too.
It always tickles me when someone talks about a lucky rabbit's foot. After all, it wasn't very lucky for the RABBIT, was it? Nah, I don't really have any good luck charms. Have several Pennsylvania Dutch wall hangings. Oh yeah, and a lucky Buddha that used to belong to my mother. He's laughing, and has a bunch of little children crawling all over him. To me, it looks like it oughta be for fertility, (THAT ship has sailed!) but my mother considered it good luck.
Nice to meet you through the A-Z challenge! Hope to see you around!
I don't have any charms, just a keyring with a picture of Hook Head (Ireland) to help me remember the good times there :)
I can recall when those cornicello charms were a brief fad. I had forgotten all about those until I saw that picture.
I don't have any lucky charms that I think of much. However, I have had people give me the evil eye on occasion.
Lee
Tossing It Out
I have statues of Buddha around my house, so that may be the closest thing I have to a lucky charm right now. He always seems so happy and confident.
I'm also a Colorado (Colorado Springs) author who is about to start querying. Good luck to you on your querying and with the rest of the A to Z Challenge!
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