You might think that the world no longer believes in demons or magic symbols. But are you sure? Consider military regiments, they have mascots, often a goat or a horse, while ships' captains still believe having a cat on board will bring luck.

Certain symbols have a very ancient ancestry; the swastika, for example, is an ancient sign brought to Europe by the Crusaders from the Saracens in the Middle Ages. It signified the movement of the seasons, and used to appear on horse brasses along with stars, circles, crescents and other protective symbols. In the Second World War a clockwise swastika was adopted by Adolf Hitler as the Nazi symbol—Hitler was extremely superstitious and believed in the swastika's lucky power, rather misguidedly as it turned out.

Corn dollies, made from the last sheaf of corn cut, are still popular in countries as far apart as Mexico, the Balinese Islands and Great Britain. Originally they were a means of encouraging pagan gods to provide a good harvest the following year; now they are just hung up as a decoration in the kitchen, but perhaps some of the old powerful meaning attached to them is dimly remembered.

The peasants in southern China when working on their harvests used to wear special dresses. The patterned border on these always had two broad bands, representing rivers enclosing lands, and numerous squares represented fields, each with a different pattern symbolizing a particular crop. In this way the peasants indicated to their gods what was expected in each field. These dresses nowadays are worn for festivals and ceremonies connected with agriculture—so the original symbolism is not forgotten.

Another superstition of the Chinese was that demons fly in straight lines, hence all the important public buildings in China have curved corners to confuse the demons and prevent them from getting a hold as they fly past. For the same reason, the paths up to Chinese front doors are winding, and the doors are painted a 'demon-defying' red as an added protection.

To find some kind of protection against the power of demons has always been of importance, and all over the world certain strange customs evolved. In Asia and Europe, because baby boys were always valued above girls, the curious habit of dressing boys as girls to trick the demons occurred. Even in Victorian Britain boys wore dresses until they were about seven years old. Nowadays, girls and boys both wear jeans so perhaps the demons are still being confused.