Re: Hand of Fatima earrings
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on February 04, 2000 at 13:53:45:
In Reply to: Hand of Fatima earrings posted by Amy L. on February 04, 2000 at 05:55:49:
I love the hand because it predates both Islam and Judasim .... it was
the protective hennaed hand of Tanit or Anath ....(if you went east it
was Inanna) ... The hand protected thresholds in Palestine, Syria and
North Africa before 1500 BCE. Probably dates back to 6000 BCE ...
there are certainly hennaed hand symbols then, and they seem to be
of the same mythos as the religions in the 3rd and 4th millinea ...
but I don't know exactly when they started appearing on thresholds.
I think the early notion was to protect the place from the evil eye,
or Mot, the god that brought famine, withering and drought.