slapshot3030 hit it on the head (ha!) with the comment about the pope and the silver hammer. But it goes one step deeper...the tradition of tapping the pope on the head goes back all the way to the Etruscans, forerunners of the Romans in Italy. One of their death demons/deities, Charun, is a big nasty blue-skinned guy who carries a large silver hammer. He shows up when someone dies and bashes their head in with it to make sure that they are really dead. He turns up in tomb paintings (such as in the Francois tomb, if you want to Google it and find the photo). John Lennon apparently saw an exhibition of Etruscan art at either the Met or the British Museum, I don't remember which, and was inspired by it.
slapshot3030 hit it on the head (ha!) with the comment about the pope and the silver hammer. But it goes one step deeper...the tradition of tapping the pope on the head goes back all the way to the Etruscans, forerunners of the Romans in Italy. One of their death demons/deities, Charun, is a big nasty blue-skinned guy who carries a large silver hammer. He shows up when someone dies and bashes their head in with it to make sure that they are really dead. He turns up in tomb paintings (such as in the Francois tomb, if you want to Google it and find the photo). John Lennon apparently saw an exhibition of Etruscan art at either the Met or the British Museum, I don't remember which, and was inspired by it.