Ohio's Tarleton Cross was to Scare Evil Spirits Away From the Graves at the Site

Ohio's Tarleton Cross was to Scare Evil Spirits Away From the Burial Mounds at the Site

SUN AND FIRE SYMBOLISM.

There is a phase of sun and fire symbolism which seems hitherto to have received but little attention, viz., the presence of such symbols in crests or in the coats-of-arms of many of the oldest families and landed gentry of the British Isles. We find them in the greatest numbers in the armorial bearings of our Scottish families and those belonging to the most northern counties of England; probably for the same reason that they are most numerous on objects which have been found in the northern portions of Scandinavia. Some of the emblems of the sun and of the swastika as a fire symbol and the wheel are in use in some countries to this day as a preservative against fire. A type of fire symbol exists in some parts of England at our very doors. In Gloucestershire and Herefordshire — possibly also in some of the other southwestern counties of England — it is not an uncommon circumstance to see on the external walls of some of the older houses one or two pieces of iron in this form:  And sometimes thus : tershire man, and on being asked the reason of the + form of these irons, he replied that "they were made thus V_) in order to protect the house from fire, as well as from falling down." In the little village of Kingstone, in Herefordshire, it is still the custom of the people on the eve of May-day to I take two short pieces of wood and nail them in this form X over the door of a house or stable, removing the one of the previous year. On inquiry why this was done, the reply was, "To scare the witches or the evil spirits away." H. G. M. A.