Phoenix Origin
10.10.2014 § Leave a comment
I wonder if the Chinese saw birds like these and were so fascinated that they created the legendary phoenix? In Western legend, the phoenix looked more like an eagle—or a swan? The Chinese phoenix sometimes also had an eagle-like head, but the wings and tails were more like a peacock or pheasant. Maybe there really was a bird like that, but it went extinct like the dinosaurs? Otherwise, how did both the East and West develop a similar legend?
Kingfisher
06.05.2014 § 3 Comments
My Chinese name includes a word that means the color of jade. The same word also means the color of the kingfisher, so I have always been curious about the color of the kingfisher’s feathers. I have seen them on ponds in action, where they suddenly touch down on the water and fly directly upwards with fish in her beaks. It usually happens in a split second, so I hardly ever get a good, close look at the color of their feathers.
In the old days in China, the feathers of the kingfisher were used as inlays for women’s hair accessories. For those intricate hairpins with dangling beads that were pinned onto highly raised, decorative buns, the main component was often kingfisher feathers inlaid among gem stones and precious metals. It makes the birds romantic and mysterious to me. « Read the rest of this entry »
Love Birds
14.02.2014 § Leave a comment
Woven-Words 