Our Lady's Holy Girdle
In the tradition dating back to the 4th century which carries the first news of a holy girdle that circled the womb of the Mother of God as preserved in Byzantium.
The term "the Mother of God"instead of the words "Our Lady"(Mea Domina, My lady), better expresses the theme of the cosmic motherhood which flows from the impact of God's archetype with the realities connected to the "creation of matter"from seemingly nothing: the female womb and, in identity with this, the earth.

Other archetypes including that of profound darkness, warmth and dampness, are added to these in a vision usually associated with the agricultural world, however, also connected with the previous phase linked with hunting and the harvest.
Broadly speaking the archetype of the "feminine divine"expresses a series of feelings which can be defined as love, protection, and understanding for the life which she carries within her womb and which is to be born to perpetuate life itself.

A particular aspect of the feminine divine, that came about in the early Middle Ages, following the big economic and social upheavals accompaning the traumatic urban revolution, created a need for a more charitable, merciful and briefly "maternal"religiousness. This is expressed in the numerous representations of Our Ladies with Child.

Datini, as a merchant who used his wealth for social purposes, founded "la Casa dei Ceppi"also known as "Ceppo de' Poveri"(the Pious House of Logs or the Poor People's Log). From the beginning he had set his institution under the protection of Our Lady. ("Madonna del Ceppo"(the Lady of the Log) painted by Filippo Lippi).

The cult of Mary can be seen as an interpretative filter of the entire civic history of the city of Prato with the Madonna del Ceppo as the expression of the moment of the support. The Lady of the Girdle is instead an expression of independence and autonomy but also of defence.
The Madonna delle Carceri (Our Lady of Prisons), lastly, is an expression of the crisis that by now had gripped the city.

From this point of view the Girdle is something more of a relic around which the devotion of the people of Prato is gathered. It is the Palladium of the city. The attempted theft of the Girdle by Musciattino as well as other legendary attempts by people from Pistoia can be seen as similar to that perpetration of Troy by Ulysses and Ajax with the Palladium (the sacred image of Pallas Athena), but with the difference that in such a case the theft was successful as the city lost its divine protection and was defeated.

The Girdle, besides being a symbol for the textile industry and the connection between weaving and agriculture in the city as found in ancient times and the female divinities full of mercy and love, is also the symbol of a circle that protects and binds. In the Middle Ages its importance increased due to the fact that the most important objects were hung to the girdle: the key, the purse, but also the sword.
When a knight was ordered he was given a banner with his Coat of Arms and the military cingulum, which consisted of a girdle with a suspended sword.

Having the Girdle as Palladium of the city was important as it affirmed that Prato was independent from any master and was a devoted servant or Our Lady.