Also called acorn blind pull, oak luck charm, thunder acorn
A dried acorn, or an acorn-shaped pull on a window blind, kept to guard a house from lightning and to bring steady luck and long life. It draws on the old tie between the oak and the thunder god.
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Take care: Raw acorns are bitter and contain tannins, so do not eat them, and keep them away from dogs and horses. An acorn is a charm, not lightning protection; follow normal storm safety.
Carved bone and ivory acorns were sold as blind and curtain pulls across England as a charm against lightning. Museum catalogues record them as common in the early 20th century, along with acorn tassels and curtain-pole ends.
Uses: wooden or bone acorn pull
After lightning struck an oak, people gathered charred splinters to carry or keep in the house, believing lightning would not strike the same protection twice.
Uses: oak splinter
Oak galls, called oak apples, were also carried for luck, and on Oak Apple Day people wore oak sprigs to mark Charles II's escape by hiding in an oak in 1651.
Uses: oak apple (gall)
Across Europe the oak was tied to sky and thunder gods, Zeus and Jupiter in the south, Thor and Donar in the north, and Perun among the Slavs. Oaks are struck by lightning more than many trees, being tall and full of water. From this came the belief that oak, or the acorn, could guard against lightning. It is a common explanation in folklore books, though written evidence directly linking the acorn to Thor is thin and comes mostly from later interpretation.
The clearest physical evidence is English. Museum collections, such as Southwark's, hold bone and ivory acorn-shaped cord pulls dated 1800 to 1916, catalogued as charms against lightning. People believed lightning entered houses through windows, so acorns on blinds and curtain poles made sense. The acorn also stood for patience and long life, since a great oak grows from one small nut.
A pebble with a natural hole worn through it, hung by a cord over a bed, a door or a stable to keep away nightmares, witches and bad luck.
Two rowan twigs bound into an equal-armed cross with red thread and placed over doors, byres and cradles to keep witches and fairies out.
A hollow glass sphere, often colored or silvered and sometimes filled with glass threads, hung in a window to catch, dazzle or trap evil spirits and ill wishes before they enter the house.
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