LL-L "Folklore" 2003.04.14 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: luc.hellinckx at pandora.be <luc.hellinckx at pandora.be>
Subject: Folklore

Beste liëglanners,

Iron is believed to ward off evil spirits and bad luck in Belgium too. In
the past,
many a car owner used to put a horseshoe on the radiator of his car in order
to be
spared an accident. Especially the big Mercedes cars used to have them *s*.
Maybe the original idea was that if something (being iron in this case) can
withstand
hell-fire (forge), it must be stronger than any devil? *s*
Greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Folklore

Pat Reynolds wrote:

> Talking about striking while the iron is hot ..... steel and iron are
> supposed to ward off dragons in 'German-speaking countries' (Bächtold-
> Stäubli, _Handworterbuch des Deutschen Abergaubems__ 1927-42: II, 402).
>
> Is this limited to Germany/Austria?  What about Belgium, Italy, Poland,
> North America, and other German-speaking countries?  And what about
> other countries with sister-languages?
>
> Here in England, iron is anathema to fairies, but not dragons.  Do 'the
> little people' loath iron in other places, too?

Pat, are you by any chance hinting at a possible double purpose of iron wall
anchors, namely anchoring walls while their frequently ornamented visible
heads were supposed to ward off evil spirits?

Horseshoes are still *the* good-luck symbol in Germany, as are
chimneysweeps.

In the (formerly) Saxon parts of Northern Germany (and perhaps also parts of
the Eastern Netherlands), gables of farm houses tend to be crowned with
crossed horse heads, a very characteristic feature of the region.  I
understand that this was supposed to ward off evil spirits.  Can anyone
confirm this?  Also, I wonder how old this feature is.  Is it old enough for
it to have influenced early Germanic architecture on the British Isles?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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