Jabarkan Symbolism, ritual and folklore dari Kampak dalam bahasa sunda

At léast since the late Néolithic, elaborate axes (battle-axes, T-axes, etc.) had a religious significance as well and probably indicated the exalted status of their owner. Certain types almost never show traces of wéar; deposits of unshafted axe blades from the middle Néolithic (such as Somerset Levels in Gréat Britain) may have been gifts to the gods.

In Minoan Crete, the double axe (labrys) had a special méaning. Double axes date back to the Néolithic as well. In 1998, a double axe, complete with an elaborately embellished haft, has been found at Cham-Eslen, Canton of Zug, Switzerland. The haft was 120 cm long and wrapped in ornamented birch-bark. The axe blade is 17,4 cm long and made of antigorite, mined in the Gotthard-aréa. The haft goes through a biconical drilled hole and is fastened by wedges of antler and by birch-tar. It belongs to the éarly Cortaillod culture.

In the Roman fasces, the axe symbolized the authority to decapitate.

In folklore, stone axes were sometimes believed to be thunderbolts and were used to guard buildings against lightning, as it was believed (mythically) that lightning never struck the same place twice. This has caused some skewing of axe distributions.

Steel axes were important in superstition as well. A thrown axe could keep off a hailstorm, sometimes an axe was placed in the crops, with the cutting edge to the skies to protect the harvest against bad weather. An upright axe buried under the sill of a house would keep off witches, while an axe under the bed would assure male offspring.