Horse shoes

Hanging a horse shoe at your front door to ward off evil and attract good luck, is something that can be seen in many cultures all around the world, though the reason for this custom may vary from tradition to tradition. Many cultures have their own intriguing origin tales here.

The most common to be heard in Christian societies is the story of St. Dunstan, a brilliant blacksmith who was asked by the Devil to shoe his horse, but instead nailed the horse shoes on the Devil’s own feet, only to take them off again once the Devil had promised to never enter a house with a horse shoe above the door.

From the Middle Ages on, this story continued to fuel the reasons why a horse shoe was supposed to ward of witches, evil spirits and nasty fairies. But other, much older, explanations for this can also be found in the simple fact that a horse shoe is made of iron and comes (of course) from a horse. Both iron and horses are in many cultures believed to have protecting properties against all kinds of evil. This can also be seen in traditional shamanic cultures.

The ancient Greeks used the similarity between the shape of the horse shoe and the letter Omega, the last letter of their alphabet. Hanging this ‘end-point’ at their walls, they hoped to ‘end’ the plague. A custom later taken over by the Romans.

In the ancient Middle East, the crescent-shape of a horse shoe represented the Moon Goddess and hanging this symbol on your wall was like asking her to bestow good fortune on you.

And so the list of stories and reasons to hang a horse shoe at your front door or elsewhere in your house goes on and on.

Customs may vary also in how to hang the horse shoe. Some might say that the U-shape is the best, to catch and collect all the fortune into your home. Others might say the proper way to hang it is upside down, in a rainbow-shape, so that it might ‘rain’ all the goodness on whoever walks beneath it. They were for example hung like this on the barracks of soldiers in WW1.

The horse shoes we sell here at SeaWolf Shop all come from the Netherlands, where they were really used on horses feet, so they not only bring their symbolism with them, but also the connection with the powerful protection of the horse.

For now we have these three available (but more will come in the future):

• 16 x 16 centimeters
• 14 x 13 centimeters
• 15 x 12 centimeters (with old silver paint, used on the wall once before)

Horse shoes are sold per piece.