Household Objects
2 min readDaily-use appliance, besides its practical function, is interpreted as a symbol in folk custom and folk art.
Umbrella-its shape reminds people of the sun. When I was in Miao villages in Guizhou, one day I came back home in the rain holding an umbrella, my host said to me in a serious tone to fold the umbrella away and place it behind the door so nobody could touch it. People’s belief in umbrella later turned into making it classy symbol as “canopy” and “yellow gauze umbrella. It was used exclusively in the temple over the statues of saint, or by the imperial family for shade outdoors.
Five-elements and eight diagrams Paper-cut’Awl and scissors keep the house out of the harm’s way’ (Houma, Shanxi) Fan-fan was at one time a favorable idol in China. Later, it was introduced to Japan where the sun was the ultimate image and received even higher and more sacred worship. The shape of an unfolding fan fits the visual image of the rising sun from the horizon, fanning out sun rays, just like the morning sun rising from the eastern sky.
Scissors-Scissors idol in folk art works is nation-wide custom. According to an old saying, “An awl and a pair of scissors keep the house out of the harm’s way.”
Scissors have always been regarded an item for safeguard. Paper-cut”Eight pairs of scissors pointing to the center to form ball flower;”and” pair of scissors pointing upward with a scorpion on top;” are popular patterns seen on the door for safeguard at the Dragon Boat Festival.
AX-Ax is another image in folk art works. It was first seen on painted pottery of 6,000-year-old Yangshao Culture from Miaodigou Linru, Henan, and pottery carving of Dawenkou Culture in Shandong. Then the same image was found on the pottery from the primitive-society cultural relics in Shijiahe, Hubei. It is believed that along the Yangtze River valley to the Yellow River basin, ax had been a symbol to safeguard house and tomb from evil spirits and epidemics for several thousand years, and it is still being used today.
