Folk Arts in Beliefs and Taboos
1 min readThe theme of transportation is to “travel safe. “Art works for decoration on vehicles and horses are mostly symbols of “good luck” or an “eight diagrams. “At Maojin ferry, Henan, on the mid-stream of the Yellow River, an area where monkey totem is idolized, a decorative monkey totem is placed on the mast tip of all boats that sail in the Yellow River. A line underneath reads: “The general is a trailblazer;and the lieutenant general is strong and invincible. The monkey totem is there to protect everyone on board when sailing amidst high winds and waves in the Yellow River.
Folk Arts in Beliefs and Taboos
Human lives were often threatened by irresistible natural or man-made vicious power. At the time when society was scientifically undeveloped, humans were even more confined in their understanding of the universe. As a result, people believed that there was an invisible world of ghosts, evil spirits, demons and monsters that could harm human life; on the other hand, they also believed that there was a supernatural power that could help conquer the evil and protect their existence. China’s unique history and cultural background over several thousand years since primitive society helped sustain the influence of totem and fairy idols, which also has an impact on folk art works.
