Many people will probably be surprised to learn that April 10th is international safety pin day. Everyone is aware of the many benefits of the safety pin, which we will hardly hurt ourselves with and therefore even has its own holiday, but why on April 10th?
On this date in 1849, an tireless inventor named Walter Hunt was granted a patent for this useful invention of his. It has an interesting origin according to urban legends. The appearance of the safety pin was due to a loan that the inventor had to pay back to a friend. He decided to do it, by inventing something new. So, with a piece of wire and a small means to fasten its end, after many attempts, you got an extremely practical object - the safety pin.
Actually, Hunt's idea isn't exactly new. Similar to the convenient fastening device existed as far back as Ancient Hellas and Homer tells of it in the Odyssey. There a suitor gave Penelope a gift of safety pins with jewels to win her over.
By the Middle Ages, however, the prototype of the safety pin, called the fibula, was already available. Today's practical and cute object has the same purpose - to join, to connect two parts to be a whole, to perform some common function.
This primary job of the safety pin turns it into an item with magical properties. It is a very common tool against evil eyes. To protect a home from evil eyes and thoughts from outside, a safe pin magical protection is recommended.
To activate the safety pin, it is heated with fire and then stuck in the door to guard the home from evil forces. It must always be fastened, so that it doesn't lose the magical powers of the safety pin.
If worn as an accessory and pinned to a garment, it becomes a good luck charm, attracts money and attract love. Magical rituals are also done with it, as well as those for protection from spells.
Fashion trends also did not remain indifferent to the elegant unpretentiousness of this simple object and turned it into a fashion and also a social symbol.
First, the punk movement turned the safety pin into a fashion accessory and a metaphor for all things anti-conformist. With Britain's exit from the EU, racially motivated incidents occurred and then wearing a safety pin became a symbol of tolerance and a call for unity with immigrants.
In the US, they wear safety pins as a sign of empathy with various minority groups and the small practical object is seen as a symbol of the safe ally. While in the past the fibula divided people along class lines, it is now seen as a promise to bring them together.
In our daily life, the safety pin continues to be the same super useful item that is good to always have at hand at home, in the bag, in the car. It is a faithful assistant to every good housewife. Now you know about her magical properties as an amulet.
