Commonplace Folklore: XXV

Gregor Lamb

“The comb had much in common with the belt in this respect. In mythological tales and fairy tales it was the bright metal belt wherein the greatest potency lay. Frigga the Nordic goddess of fertility wore a golden belt round her waist and Lady Godda, the fairy woman of the Welsh Marches, was similarly attired. Northern legend says that the dwarf lost his power if he lost his belt. A fairy tale recorded on Barra in the Western Isles of Scotland speaks of a fairy girdle being found. But it was not only in the North where such belts were prized; Orion, the great hunter of Greek mythology had a star-studded belt. Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, possessed a prize embroidered girdle which she loaned to Hera saying, ‘all my power resides in this’. In the folk customs of Greece we learn that a special belt was placed round the waist of a woman who was having a difficult labour. In the Scottish Highlands up until the eighteenth century a belt on which magical inscriptions were written was placed round a woman in labour. In Norwegian folklore particularly potent belts were made of silver or of wolfskin.”

Gregor Lamb, Orcadiana, pen portraits of the past, published in 2004.