Anyone who has ever been to a rock concert has seen dozens of hands in the hall raised in a gesture called a "goat". Interestingly, this gesture resembles the shape of the Latin letter U, which can mean unity, that is, unification, just like a gesture similar to V means victory - Victory. This means that the "goat" is, first of all, a sign of unity, unity. The man “throwing the goat” seems to say: “I am mine here! I'm with you!".
There is also another version: there is an opinion that the three-finger goat (forefinger, little finger, thumb) is part of the phrase "I love you" in the language for the deaf and dumb. In this way, at concerts, fans express their love for music. By the way, in the Russian language of the deaf and dumb, this gesture means the letter "Y" …
Ronnie James Dio, playing with Black Sabbath in the early 80s, was the first to bring this gesture to rock culture. Dio himself said that his grandmother taught him this gesture as a child.
Here's what he said about this:
“I’m hardly the first person to fold my fingers like this. It's like reinventing the wheel. But you can probably say that I made it fashionable. It was a symbol that reflected everything related to our group. There is nothing "devilish" about him, as some say. My Italian grandmother used to say that it scares away the "evil eye". Just a symbol, but it has a magical meaning, and I think it went well with BlackSabbath. Now everyone uses it, and it seems to have lost its original meaning,”- said Dio in an interview.
Other candidates for the "father" of the rock goat are Ricci Blackmore, Jimi Hendrix and George Clinton.
But what did the goat gesture mean before it became firmly established in rock culture?
Ronnie James Dio
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"Rock Goat" is not just a sign of unification, it is also a sacred symbol. In palmistry, the index finger is associated with Jupiter and the little finger is associated with Mercury. Jupiter in Greek mythology is the supreme deity, the god of the sky, lightning and thunder, and Mercury is the god of trade, theft, and he also escorts the souls of the dead to the underworld. Thus, with a similar gesture, people asked for protection from Jupiter, and from Mercury - help in so that the soul of the enemy safely reached the kingdom of the dead.
In the Middle Ages, there was a rumor that devils and witches greet in this way, and this gesture became forbidden, like a semblance of the devil's horns.
We also see the mention of the "goat" in Bram Stoker's "Dracula": "… in the crowd at the hotel door, everyone crossed themselves and pointed two fingers outstretched at me.
It was not without difficulty that I got from one of my companions an explanation of what all this meant; … he said that the gesture serves as a kind of amulet and protection from the evil eye."
Also "Goat", also known as "corn", "horns", "rasping" - the gesture resembles the head of a horned animal in shape. In a number of European countries, the two-finger gesture was used by superstitious people to protect against the evil eye and witches, as an analogue of spitting over the shoulder.
The "raspaltsovka" was used by the new Russians as a sign of their own superiority. "Goat" is a common gesture of threat among the blatars of the "classical period" - from the early 30s to the 70s. Borrowed from tramps and street children of the 20s, accompanied by traditional threats - I will squeeze out the shnits! or chichi ram! (that is, gouge out my eyes).
Since the mid-80s, in the prison environment, the so-called old vagabonds, correct boys, etc., that is, representatives of the true Shpane brotherhood have developed a negative and ironic attitude towards folding (as the “thug goat” is called in another way). This is considered "bad form", a sign of "buzzing", fat-headed, urla (dull youth). The self-respecting prisoners laughed and mocked those who spread their fingers with a fan.
After "perestroika", from the beginning of the 90s, bandits, rocket men (racketeers) adopted the gesture of the blatars. Among the representatives of the new criminal wave, there were almost no people with prison-camp experience, young people predominated, aggressive, energetic, but blunt and, as the right guys say (that is, criminals who follow thieves' laws and traditions), without concepts. These criminals of the new formation adopted some of the external attributes of the blatars, and above all - the folding. So at present, the expression of fingers in a fan is most often associated with representatives of the gangster world (as opposed to the thieves' world), with those who are commonly called bulls. In places of deprivation of freedom of expression, fingers fanning, fingers bending (see), folding serve as a mocking, negative characteristic of a person who seeks to imitate negatively-minded convicts,to achieve external similarity with them.
And in Italy "goat" is a gesture related to the region. For example, having met a hearse on the way, you must certainly make a "rock goat", otherwise trouble cannot be avoided. And "goat" with thumbs up in Italy means a terrible insult, which is much more offensive than a raised middle finger. Therefore, in Italy, the "goat" should be treated with the utmost care."
Even in ancient times, the "goat" was used with very serious intentions, killing two birds with one stone - protecting themselves and sending a curse on their enemies. In modern palmistry, the fingers necessary for the "goat" - the index and little fingers - are under the jurisdiction of Jupiter and Mercury, respectively. The first was known in Roman mythology as the supreme god (the same as the Greek Zeus), the second was considered a guide to the world of the Dead. Thus, the ancients, making a "goat", simultaneously turned to two gods, one asking for protection, and the second - the death of an enemy. By the way, when the Egyptian pharaohs were sent to another world, special figures with fingers folded into the same "goat" were installed inside their tombs for protection, thereby protecting the tombs from the encroachments of the curious and selfish, for the "offenders" were awaiting a curse
It was the second, damning, meaning of "goat" that gradually became better known. Much has been said about this gesture at different times, especially in the Middle Ages. They saw the horns of the devil in the "goat", then three sixes - a devilish number. It was believed that this is how the witches greeted each other
All the same "goat" became the Symbol of the Ancients (it must be understood, spirits), which, according to the Arabic book on black magic, the Necronomicon, could summon these same Ancients if necessary. Some people are still convinced that this gesture is unnatural and displeasing to God and, therefore, showing it is blasphemy. Many fans admit that at a concert you can meet a "goat" not every song, but the most difficult songs
By the way, it is interesting that the "goat" in its shape resembles the mudra (magic gesture in the form of a certain position of the fingers) of Energy. The difference is that the middle and ring fingers in the Energy mudra touch the thumb with their tips, and not just pressed. In the east (and not only), treatment with the help of such gestures is widely practiced. Moreover, the name of many mudras goes back not so much to religion as to Eastern mythology.
In general, no matter from which side you look, "goat" is a typical pagan sign.
