Charlevoix county herald., 1919-09-12
British War Museum Official Digs
Up Some Interesting
Information.
NEARLY ALL WEAR AMULETS
One Officer Carrying Charm Refuses to
Reveal Its Nature for Fear of
Bad Luck-Another Carries
Piece Of Coal.

stitions prevalent among British colo
NAL troops at the front are described by
Edward Lovett, an official of the I'm
perial War museum at London, in the
Morning Post. He says:
MANY of the superstitlons held by
British soldiers are also held by our
troops from overseas and by men of
the allied forces. One day happened
to meet an Australian soldier who wore
the figure 8 on the collar of his tunic.
This 8 is known on the continent as
the Pentad, and in Belgium the Fifth
regiment Is considered to be the lucky
regiment. The logic of the Pentad is
as follows: Figure l stands for God,
absolutely alone. Figure is the mind
of God in operation as shown by the
works Of nature. Figure 3 represents
man as the highest work of God. TAX
ing. therefore, figure l as being unique,
the figures and 3, that is, Gods work
in the hands of man, equal 5, and this
is said to represent everything. In
this country we do not fully appreciate
the meaning of the figure 5.
Lucky Australian Five.
ITO come back to our Australian SOL
der. He told me that he knew nothing
of the Pentad, and he was rather in
clined to sheer at luck in general. But
he told me that his company, which
was the Fifth, was very lucky, and day
after day the men had many narrow
escapes from death or wounds. The
company, in fact, had lost only Is men
out of $50, while the Second company
had lost much larger proportion. He
also told me that the No. Is was con-
sidered by them . lucky number, and
most of the men In the Fifth company,
curiously enough, had Is In their regi-
mental numbers, his own number be-
ing 51327.
"On one occasion, after lecturing to
some men from New Zealand and Aus
tralia, i was entertained for the night
and put up in an officers hut. Before
turning in l chatted over the subject
of folklore and soldiers mascots with
four officers. One of the officers told
me that he carried a charm, and said
l would like to know what it was. 1t
turned out to be simply Swastika,
which was apparently new to him, and
he was glad to hear more about 1t.
The second officer took from his pocket
a small cross of grotesque form, which,
he informed me, was his mascot. The
third officer laughingly added, "Well, ]
need not show you mine, because it is
only piece of coal, wrapped in little
bag which l brought over from Aus
tralla." The fourth (and this to my
establishment, being the "highest pos
sible') said, II also have a mascot, but
l regret to say that / don't intend to
show 1t to you. / won't even tell you
what 1t is, because ii would spoil my
luck" Nothing l could say would in
duce him to alter his decision. His was
the most superstltious case of all.
1.-THE commonest charms among the
soldiers of France and Belgium are
made Of aluminium and copper frag.
ments of German shells. 1t Is consid
cred that If you wear a piece of an
enemy's projectile it inOculates you
against future danger from such
sources. In Italy the men wore the
kinds of charms and amulets which
have been common In that country fol-
many generatiOns-even centuries,
may say. They consist chiefly of phal'
sands In the streets and markets OF
! Naples especially.
What the Germans Wear.
81 have a number of examples OF
German charms, some of which were
taken from German prisoners, while
others were collected by myself in Ger
many about II years ago. They are
of a character you might expect from
such a people, and consist largely OF
pigs, many Of which, regret to say
are grossly vulgar and offensive. An
other German charm is small model OF
fungus, which Is of natural blood-reC
color. This is really phallic emblem
A third kind Is teetotum, the mean
ing of which Is Chance On the Other
hand, In the German navy, or what re
mains Of 1t, they have rather a pretty
charm. 1t consists of small, cheaI
medal, bearing the figure Of Chris
stilling the tempest, with the motto
Safety In storms / gathered from
several of my friends that the charms
In common use by the Germans wer,
generally small objects, such as l hav,
mentioned, which had been presented