Marlon Brando makes the sign whilst singing " Luck Be a Lady" in the 1955 film Guys and Dolls, seeming to indicate it was a sign for snake eyes in the craps game he is playing for the gamblers' souls. Ike Turner told in an interview that he used the sign in his piano playing on Howlin' Wolf's blues song " How Many More Years" in 1951. Northwestern European and North American popular culture Contemporary use by musicians and actors During a European Union meeting in February 2002, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was photographed performing this gesture behind the back of Josep Piqué, the Spanish foreign minister. In many Mediterranean and Latin countries, such as Brazil, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Mexico, when directed towards someone, pointed upward, and/or swiveled back and forth, the sign offensively implies cuckoldry in regard to the targeted individual the common words for cuckolded in Greek, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese are, respectively, κερατάς ( keratas), cornuto, cornudo and corno, literally meaning "horned ". In LaVeyan Satanism, the sign of the horns is used as a traditional salutation, either for informal or ritual purposes.
The sign of the horns is used during religious rituals in Wicca, to invoke or represent the Horned god. In Italy and other parts of the Mediterranean region, the gesture must usually be performed with the fingers tilting downward or in a leveled position not pointed at someone and without movement to signify the warding off of bad luck in the same region and elsewhere, the gesture may take a different, offensive, and insulting meaning if it is performed with fingers upward or if directed aggressively towards someone especially in a swiveling motion (see section below). The President of the Italian Republic, Giovanni Leone, startled the media when, while in Naples during an outbreak of cholera, he shook the hands of patients with one hand while with the other behind his back he superstitiously made the corna, presumably to ward off the disease or in reaction to being confronted by such misfortune. With fingers pointing down, it is a common Mediterranean apotropaic gesture, by which people seek protection in unlucky situations (a Mediterranean equivalent of knocking on wood). In Italy specifically, the gesture is known as the corna ("horns"). It is also used traditionally to counter or ward off the " evil eye" ( malocchio in Italian). Īn apotropaic usage of the sign can be seen in Italy and in other Mediterranean cultures where, when confronted with unfortunate events, or simply when these events are mentioned, the sign of the horns may be given to ward off further bad luck. It is also found on the Song dynasty statue of Laozi, the founder of Taoism, on Mount Qingyuan, China. It is commonly found on depictions of Gautama Buddha. In Buddhism, the Karana Mudrā is seen as an apotropaic gesture to expel demons, remove negative energy, and ward off evil. In Indian classical dance forms, it symbolizes the lion. In Hatha Yoga, a similar hand gesture – with the tips of middle and ring finger touching the thumb – is known as Apāna Mudrā, a gesture believed to rejuvenate the body.
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