CULTURAL STUDIES / ARTAll over the world and throughout history
amulets have offered protection against negative forces. The power
of amulets is based on the underlying, widespread belief that all
things in the natural world have a spirit and a power that links
them together. Intricately beautiful or starkly simple, amulets
come in an astonishing variety of guises: from stones, shells, and
seeds, through animal tails, teeth, and claws, to beads, mirrors,
needles, and bells. Used alone or combined in intricate patterns,
they are all part of a system of natural and magical forces that
can be used to redress evil influences.When the Great Plague swept
across Europe and hit London in 1665, the disease was believed to
be caused by the wrath of God and spread by the bad odors emanating
from the sick. On still days, church bells were rung and shots
fired to drive off the disease by moving the air. Birds were kept
in rooms to sing and create drafts. But strong-smelling amulets,
pomanders of cloves and spices, were considered the best
protection.It is particularly in such a climate of deadly
pestilence caused by forces unknown and not understood--as in the
case of AIDS in Africa today--that the power of amulets thrives.
Until well into the nineteenth century, illness was commonly
believed to be the work of evil spirits, demons, witches, the evil
eye, angry gods, or even ancestors. In the face of such
supernatural forces a magical defense acquired its own
rationality.Babies are particularly vulnerable to evil forces and
illness. High infant mortality rates--the causes of which are not
understood--are confronted by a plethora of beads, stones, and bags
of herbs hung around the child's neck. In theGolden Triangle, the
region where Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and Laos all meet, neck
rings are put on a few days after birth and kept on night and day.
These hold the soul in the body ensuring the humanity of the child
and protecting it from evil. Tribes in southern China hold evil
spirits at bay by dressing their children in hats that fool the
spirits into thinking the child is a flower, an owl, or even a
tiger or dragon.Amulets are not just something from the distant
past. When astronaut Edward White went to the moon, he took in the
right-hand pocket of his space suit a Saint Christopher medallion,
a gold cross, and a Star of David. Perhaps the newest amulet to
emerge is a silver circular pendant that protects the wearer from
the electromagnetic fields of his or her cell phone.To unearth the
mythology, symbolism, traditional practices, and modern uses of
amulets, the author traveled to more than thirty countries around
the world. She reveals her findings not only in unusual stories and
commentary but also through more than 400 color photographs.SHEILA
PAINE is an expert on tribal societies and textiles and is the
author of "Embroidered Textiles: Traditional Patterns from Five
Continents" and the trilogy" The Afghan Amulet: Travels from the
Hindu Kush to Razgrad, The Golden Horde: Travels from the Himalaya
to Karpathos," and "The Linen Goddess: Travels from the Red Sea to
Prizren." She lives in England.
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