The English crescent from harness will be found to match those which are represented on the horses on Trajan’s column and other monuments. The same design is to be seen also on the harness of camels and elephants. The most important symbol besides the moon is that of the sun, which is worn on the top of the head between the ears.
Heraldic brasses are not uncommon, and the heart-shaped amulet is also seen; it is possible, too, that this form may be connected with that of the flint arrows, which we have already mentioned as being worn as amulets. In Egypt, an amulet hung on a cow is said to protect the woman who owns it, and Miss Eckenstein suggests a similar origin in the case of the heart worn by horses. A brass showing a horse rampant, came from the estate of the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel, and it will be seen on looking at the arms of the nobleman in question that this device forms one of the supporters of his shield.
In prehistoric Egypt the slate palettes on which malachite was ground for face painting were often in the form of two birds, with their bodies put back to back, and their heads fully shown, and when this form degenerates it becomes a kind of heart-shaped shield. Professor Petrie has pointed out that when this decoration is used, as on coffins and elsewhere, it is often thought to be merely a shield. Possibly the heart-shaped amulet may have some connection with this.
Fig. 164.—An English horse amulet showing both the heart and the sun.
An amulet found by Professor Vellucci in Umbria consisted of an arrow-head sewn upon a piece of scarlet cloth, which was of a heart shape, and was intended doubtless to emphasize the heart significance. Another horse amulet, obtained by Miss Eckenstein from Sicily, also consists of a piece of scarlet cloth cut into the shape of a heart and decorated with tinsel.
An English horse brass seen in Figure [164] shows both the heart and the sun.
While on the subject of horses, one might allude to the wisps of straw which are twisted in the mane and tail of cart-horses when they are for sale at markets and fairs. Horses were sacrificed in the old days; and as the slaying of domestic animals was supposed to secure fruitfulness, the horse became identified as a corn spirit, and the killing of horses formed a necessary incident of the harvest. The deity Demeter took upon himself the semblance of a mare, and the word mare is applied in the Midlands to the last uncut ears of corn, at which the sickles are thrown in order to bring them down. It is possible that the wisps of straw worn by horses are connected with these ideas.
A very curious and interesting custom is represented on the trappings of the horses ridden by the officers of the 10th Hussars. These trappings are ornamented on full-dress occasions with cowry shells; and to find a parallel to this we have to go to the East, where the head-stalls of the camels and mules are covered with the shells, while round their necks and those of donkeys there may hang an ornament or bell on a band which is similarly decorated. It will be noted that there is a pendant from the head of the Hussar horse which resembles that of the mule of the Holy Land. There is no doubt but that originally these ornaments were really amulets, and it is said that they are a survival of ancient phallic worship. (See Figures [165]-[7].)