The World-Wide Belief in the Luck of Horseshoes.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8022, 8 January 1906, Page 4

The World-Wide Belief in the Luck of Horseshoes.

The original of belief in " horseshoe Uu.k " is so nnciunt llmt it.never ha= beer determined with eer!ainly--aml in; shijh-i----6lition is more universal. Ever Mncc horsis began to wear shoes those niscrnts of uon have been nccoun'oil lucky emblems by ah people, races ami nation.'; that have been acquainted with their use. ThcChinose foi instance, .say they nail t!«;n up over their doors as a charm against evi! spirits, be cause of the close resemblance that exists between its shape ami the n; died body oi the sacred snake, Nagcmlra, one oi their principal deities. Ask a Turkish Mohauimedan for information on the subject, and he Bill tell you thai it is because they are in form like to a crescent, the sac.td emblem of Islam. A Polish Jew will explain that at the l'assovcr, the blood sprinkled upon the lintel and door-posts, in the manner directed by their ritual, forms the chiel points of an arch. Hence, obviously, the value of areh-shaped talismans, such as horseshoes are. The stolid and unimagiM tive llussian peasant, on the other hand, maintains that the luck associated with the hov.-o-shoc is due chiefly lo the. metal, irrespective of its shape, iron being traditionally a charm wherewith lo nidify the malevolent designs of evil spirits and goblins Very different is the story by which the Irishman seeks io account for bis liking fot the same talisuianie symbol. The nam" "Ironbind" or "Ireland/' he will tell von originated as follows:—The whole island war once submerged in the sea, outof which i' only rose once in 7 years, anil then only fori; very short lime. Many attempts had been made to break the tpoll and induce the country to remain peiuiancinly above the waters, bnt all were vain, un:*'. one day, a daring adventurer threw a horse-shoe from a boat on to the top-most peak of the Wicklow Mountains, just as they were disappearing beneath the waves. Then at. last was the bane removed. The Emerald Isle began forthwith to rise again from the ocean depths into which il had sunk. Ami it has beer dry land—move or less—ever since, iv.ici, is the story as told by the folklore-loviit;' peasantry of the west; but many aethori ties on Irish legendary lore insist llml th, real reason of the always dcvo.nl IrUhman'ii belief in the beneficent powers of the emblem in question lies in the fact "! the horse art I the ass having been in the stable when Christ was bom, and hence being evei more blessed annuals. In England, up lo con,, paratively recent time, horseshoes were exI 'iisively used almost everywhere as .'.miwitch charms; anil the custom is n:.: even vet an extinct one. No witch it used to he said, could enter a building over - .h.Mlooi oi which a hor.-rsboe-O!', better still, thiec horse-shoes--had been ap.iv.cd, prongs downwards. The origin of this particular beliei is referable to the old legend of St. Dunslai, Thi-t versatile English oecl.-iastie was a skilled farrier, and one day while at work in his forge the Evil One entered in disguise and requested Dnnstan to shoe his " single hoof." The saint, although he, at once recognised his malign customer, acceded, but caused him so much pain during the opera'ion that-Satan begged him lo desist. This Dnnstan did. but only after he had made the Evil one promise that neither he nor any o! fte lesser evil spirits, his servants, would sver molest the inmates of a. house wher-a horseshoe was displayed. In T"nurir.,<;r. Horseshoes arc used for a like purpose, and a ri.T.ilar legend is told to account lor the justom, but the fastidiousness of these forestjred folk is not content with in- ordinary ,iiioe. In order to serve as a talisman it must be specially forged on St.. John's Eve bv a young bachelor of wholesome life and unblemished character. #ln Pliny's times horse-shoes were used in the Campania to secure the inmates of the dwellings from tht visitations of nocturnal prowling spirit!, ei&ctly as they ate Ui-dty