Metal Hand Sign: Its Meaning and History

"I invented the sign of the horns. I trademarked it. It’s mine." Gene Simmons - Kiss

“When I was a little kid with my grandmother holding my hand and walking down the street, she would see someone and go ?, only when I got older did I understand that it was called the evil eye” To say these words was none other than one of the most important, respected and influential metal singers on the world scene, Ronnie James Dio.

Grandma was simply doing the gesture of double Cornicello that is called Manocorno o Manocornuta.

Every culture brings with it many traditions, many anecdotes and sometimes many secrets. For these reasons, 2 main dynamics arise in our everyday lives: the first is that certain customs, by now, we take for granted or have become so much a part of our culture that we do not even notice that we practice them. 

The second is that when we come into contact with a different culture, sometimes we really struggle to understand some of its customs and habits. 

The sign of the horns is certainly one of the most well-known hand gestures in the world, now on par with the one we would very much like to address to someone we do not like very much.

The History of the Metal Hand Sign

Devil Hand Sign doesn’t have a clear or unique origin, but like the cornicello, its roots can be traced back to several and ancient Mediterranean cultures. In fact, according to mythology, the people of Crete to remind their ruler Minos of the betrayal by his wife Pasiphae with the bull of Crete, during speeches to the people, their subjects would address their ruler with the horns sign with their hand. 

From this time on, the sign of the horns would spread throughout Europe, where it would begin, instead, to take on the meaning of an amulet against bad luck and the evil eye.

It is a gesture strongly linked to the folk tradition of southern Europe and, in particular, is a typical custom in the folklore of southern Italy where the fingers, symbolizing a pair of horns, pointing downward, are used as a shield to ward off bad luck and the malevolent eye of fate.

If you go to visit the beautiful towns of southern Italy, therefore, do not be surprised to see old ladies and women doing the devil hand sign, since, as you have realized, it is completely part of their culture, just as Ronnie James Dio's grandmother did.

In the 1970s, the metal hand sign was taken up by George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic. It was the P-Funk band that made this gesture widespread and well-known, displaying the metal hand sign in concerts in front of their immense audiences. The devil horns hand sign takes on its full legitimacy in the album cover “Ahh... The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!” which shows George Clinton himself, the face of the band, making the metal hand sign, in front of all their fans.

Subsequently, enshrining the ultimate landing of the devil horn sign in mass culture was the very character we started with, Ronnie James Dio, despite the fact that the royalties would belong, as we have seen, to his grandmother.... that probably already knew the Italian horn necklace.

Dio, in fact, once he became the star of Black Sabbath in 1979, after Ozzy Osbourne's farewell, wanted to choose a distinctive gesture to immediately strike the attention of the fans who already adored him. Osbourne, in fact, was typical to make the peace gesture with his two fingers, index and middle fingers, raised in a V shape.

Hand Charm Manocorno in Gold

Powerfull Italian Charm against Evil Eye: Gold Hand with 2 Horns - Genuine 18 kt yellow gold talisman that will keep the bad fortune away from you .

Gold Hand Charm Mano Corno

In order to differentiate himself, Dio, from his earliest hits and live shows, began to use our heavy metal hand sign, with his fingers pointing upward, as opposed to how his grandmother traditionally did it and how, in fact, it was done in the Italian folk tradition, that is, with his fingers pointing downward. 

He simply wanted to imitate his grandmother's gesture and at the same time create a unique gesture of belonging without probably knowing the deep roots and the original horn meaning.

It is important to point out that Dio was already using the devil horn hand sign when he was the vocalist of Rainbow, his previous band affiliation, but the gesture began to become part of the very Rock tradition beginning with his joining the new Birmingham hard & heavy band.

Although, traditionally this is the origin that is recognized by all, it is also fair to say that there are several claims of the rock horns in the rock scene.

In particular, it was always another key member of the said band, bassist Geezer Butler, who claimed of the use of the metal hand sign as early as during concerts when the band's anthemic song, “Black Sabbath,” was being played, long before the arrival of God in 1979, and this is also evidenced by several photos of him making that gesture as early as 1971.

Butler himself pointed out that the devil horns are also shown no less on the cover of one of the iconic bands of an entire historical period, the Beatles! In fact, in 1969, the cover of the album “Yellow Submarine” shows John Lennon himself making this apotrophaic sign. 

In the same year, another historic hard rock band, Coven, also released the album “Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls,” in which the devil hornsl hand sign is shown.

Drawing, then, a line from the history of the rock horns, although its popularity in the heavy metal world is attributed to Dio, he himself has always pointed out that he does not claim the invention of “the horns.” In several interviews, Dio says that surely doing the gesture so frequently during his shows allowed him to become famous and to become a rock'n'roll symbol but, at the same time, he also says that surely there must have been someone else who used it before him.

The Metal Hand Sign | Q and A

Question: What does this symbol means in metal?

The heavy metal horn sign , with index and pinky fingers raised and other fingers closed, is known as “ evil horns” and is a popular gesture in metal culture, often used to express appreciation for the music or band.

Question: What does the metal hand sign mean in general?

The “metal hand sign”, with index and pinky fingers raised, is a popular gesture in metal culture expressing appreciation for the music or band. I like you .. I show the gesture as symbol of belonging.

Question: What does it mean in Italiy?

In Italy, the double horn gesture can have several connotations. In the folk tradition that is connected with superstition it essentially has the value of a double witchcraft, and in the case of the amulet to be worn around the neck it is prefigured as a double Horn Necklace. 

In the context of metal music, it has the same meaning of appreciation as it does internationally. However, in other contexts, it can be considered a vulgar gesture or a way of indicating that someone is “cuckolded,” that is, betrayed by their partner.

Hand Charm Manocorno in Gold and Coral

Mighty Italian Charm against Evil Eye: Coral and Gold Hand with 2 Horns - Genuine 18 kt yellow gold talisman that will keep the envy and bad luck away from you .

Coral Hand Charm Mano Cornuta

The Metal Hand Sign and the Evil Eye

The heavy metal hand sign, the one that Dio saw his grandmother made, with her index and little finger raised, is a typical custom of several Mediterranean cultures. In fact, especially people from the more rural areas of southern Europe, such as southern Italy, use the traditional devil horns hand sign as protection against the evil eye.

By "Evil Eye" we mean the belief that the malevolent gaze of people who may harbor feelings of jealousy, envy, anger toward us can give rise to negative energy that can negatively affect the daily life of the recipient, even in the form of physical discomfort such as fatigue, agitation and insomnia.

This is precisely where the thought comes from that a person who considers himself unlucky is nothing more than the victim of an evil eye cast by another person.

A form of protection was, therefore, found in the devil hand sign, which owes its strong apotropaic value, that is, against bad luck, to 2 dimensions: the first is related to the strength, energy and power symbolized by the horn, while the second is given by the protection and fertility symbolized by the Moon and, especially, the lunar horn. The devil hand sign has remained one of the most immediately recognizable forms of traditional Italian superstition.

As additional protections to ward off the "Evil Eye" and malignant influences, these cultures have always considered certain rituals of great importance, such as the one practiced by mixing water and oil or the use of small objects or amulets to be carried at all times, such as the lucky horn.

According to tradition, in fact, wearing these Italian good luck charms corresponds to always carrying a real shield capable of originating an opposite energy of equal strength to the negative energy received from all those looks that cast an evil eye on us.

Marco, Alessio and Mamma Gabriella continue to promote this ancient tradition and defend the old folk customs that have continued to characterize the culture of the Bel Paese for centuries.

The Metal Hand Sign Today

As we have seen how the metal hand sign has very ancient origins dating back, according to some legends, to Greek mythology with its implicit reference to the betrayal committed by the wife of the Cretan king, Minos, who brought forth the famous half-man, half-bull monster, namely the Minotaur.

Nearly forty centuries later, the gesture was made famous and “pop” again thanks to another legend, this time of heavy metal, Ronnie James Dio, in the form of a symbol of complicity and a sense of belonging between audience and artists during numerous live performances.

Over the years, the devil horn hand sign has become increasingly established in popular culture not only in Europe but also, and especially, worldwide. We see it put on display by several prominent athletes in the world of WWE professional wrestling, or it is used as an identity gesture of jubilation and support or as a simple provocative gesture by some soccer players and fans.

Mother Gabriella taught me (in a recent interview) that man often tries to appropriate the merits of others, especially when there are gains involved and, in fact, even in our story, there has been no shortage of debate and controversy. In fact, not too many years ago, in 2017, Gene Simmons, the famous bassist of the iconic group “Kiss,” attempted to register as a real trademark the metal hand sign, with the almost clear intent of being able to profit from it (I, too, think I'll go file a patent tomorrow morning for the equally typical "cuoppo hand" a symbol of Italian tradition?).

His motivation was, in fact, to claim to have made the metal hand sign act famous during a tour with Kiss in 1974. Needless to say, his claim generated a massive wave of irony, criticism, but above all discussion. 

Beyond the more or less concealed intent of personal gain that there might have been, it was above all the fans of the singer-songwriter who has been with us since the beginning of the article who expressed strong indignation, not only about the right or wrong authorship of the gesture, which, as we have seen, has no real birth, but above all about the collective and universal nature that this gesture should have. 

Bringing this debate to a close, it was Simmons himself who withdrew his own question, leaving the metal hand sign a heritage, free of charge, of all.

In actual fact, the devil horn sign has never left popular culture; on the contrary, it continues to evolve and manifest itself with new variations. This time, in fact, we come all the way to Japan where the Rising Sun band “Babymetal” uses the “kitsune sign” revisiting the traditional form of the gesture. In this case, the position of the two horns is always maintained but the middle and ring fingers are joined together with the thumb. 

The heavy metal j-pop band's philosophy in using the double horns sign is precisely to take the shape of the traditional fox in Japanese mythology to symbolize magic and especially Japanese tradition.

Also in this example, we see how the world of gestures, culture, and the spread of a common traditional sign intertwine to enhance a set of shared values.

Gold Horn Italian Charm for Necklace

Genuine 18 kt/750% yellow Italian gold horn (the so called "cornetto" o "cornicello") pendant for a chain or your lucky charm bracelet.

Gold Italian Horn

Devil Horns Hand Sign in Jewelry

As the Jovon family, we are the first to say that devil hand sign is not just a gesture for its own sake. It is a link between past and present, between tradition and culture.

As also often said by Marco, the superstition is simple, and the Horned Hand is nothing but a double horn: here you can associate a powerful and miraculous horn-making hand next to your “ cornicello.” What's the best metal for being the best Italian good luck charm?

The pendant should ideally be made of 18-carat gold to make the apotropaic power of the amulet as strong as possible. We have often talked in this post about the power of certain materials (precious metals and coral) and certainly the same rules can be applied for this special and auspicious amulet.

Here it is that ala Eredi Jovon both the famous gold “manocornuta” and a version carved in coral are sold. Of course, there is a silver version of the amulet that attracts the magical powers of the moon and reflects the evil eye almost like a mirror.

I let you with the well know Eredi Jovon's Trademark

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