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Encyclopedia of Religion entry forAmuletsObjects supposed to possess magic power, and worn by people as a protection against evil. The wearing of amulets has been a common practice. The Babylonians seem to have used rings, seal cylinders, clay figurines, metallic statuettes, inscribed tablets, discs, etc. (Morris Jastrow, Rel. Assyria, 1898.) Egyptian mummies in the period of the New Kingdom were covered with amulets, which took the form of an eye, a heart, a scepter, a crown, a beetle, etc. (Adolf Erman, Hand-book.) Mohammedans not only wear such objects as a miniature copy of the Koran, chapters or verses of the Koran written on paper and folded, the Mohammedan creed on stone or silver, etc., but they also attach them. A goddess of the sea in Greek to houses, animals, etc. (T. P. Hughes.) The Chinese place amulets over the grave or in the house of a dead person to remove evil influences in the calculation of an auspicious day for burial. These consist of email strips of yellow paper, on which are inscribed such words as, " The virgins of the dark spheres of the nine heavens are here present with imperial orders from Heaven to subdue unlucky influences." They also hang amulets on the walls of houses to purify them after a death, or on coffins to counteract bad influences. (J. J. M. de Groot, R.S.C.). Hindus value such objects as a jewel, a stone, a piece of paper or metal, a leaf inscribed with mystic words and formulae, as charms against evils of various kinds. Hindu women wear them as a protection against sterility. (Sir Monier Monier-Williams, Brahmanism and Hinduism (4), 1891.) For the same purpose, Kaffir women wear amulets made from the tail-hairs of a heifer and supplied by medicine men, and Moorish women of Morocco carry a porcupine’s foot. The women of Mecca wear a magic girdle, the women of Persia a mandrake. In other such cases, the object worn seems to be a talisman to bring good luck rather than an amulet to ward off evil. Thus, women in the interior of Western Africa have been known to carry small ivory figures of the two sexes, and among the Bechuana, Basuto, and Agni women dolls have been carried. (E. S. Hartland, Perseus, vol. I., 1894.) In England the practice of carrying amulets was common in the Middle Ages. These were often gems or coins having on them a figure of some religious hero or saint. (Brand’s Popular Antiquities, ed. C. Hazlitt, 1905.) In Southern Germany the Alemanni as late as the end of the sixth century used herbs and amber as amulets. (P. D. Chantepie de La Saussaye, Rel. of the Teutons, 1902.) See also ABRAXAS STONES, CHARMS; J. M. Wheeler, Foot-steps of the Past, 1895; A. C. Haddon, Magic and Fetishism, 1906. citations: Encyc. of Rel., Canney
article created 2006-04-12 , last updated 2006-04-12 |
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