Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 16, 1905.djvu/165

 Its Structure and Development. 141

3. Moon.

It is rare to find a cimaruta without the lunar emblem : it usually takes the form of a crescent, with a well-moulded face between the horns. The jettatura is baffled by the two-horned phase with greater certainty than by the more benign face of the full moon ; occasionally, however, repre- sentations of the full moon are included in the compound charm, and sometimes in addition to the crescent.

When the crescent is worn as a separate charm by human beings, a simple loop for suspension is fixed to the upper part and the charm is worn upright, with face looking forward ;^ but the brass crescents of donkeys, horses, and other domestic animals are hung face downward, a position at once suited to the gait of the quadrupeds and identical with that of the crescents repre- sented in statues of their divine protectress, Diana of the Ephesians. It follows naturally that the upright moon should be the one more frequently adopted on the cimaruta, and we find it to be so in most cases. The excep- tions are generally when the crescent is represented in especial relation to some other emblem, such as the fist, which is then mounted between the horns of the crescent, like the familiar emblems on the face-plates of English cart-horses. It may be noted that, when in combination with the cimaruta, the loop for suspension of the crescent almost invariably survives as a small silver tag, which may or may not be perforated. The persistence of the loop is a clue to a very important fact concerning the origin of the combined charm, namely, that the crescent was at first a separate pendant amulet, probably of greater antiquity than the rue-sprig, and that it was hung with others on the rue-sprig like keys on a bunch.

An erroneous interpretation of this part of the charm has been given by Mr. Rolfe {Naples in 1888, p. 117), who has

^ In ornate specimens a perforated crown takes the place of the simple loop.