Description
Beautiful small Chinese lucky charms that can be used as a good luck charm. A lucky charm is something you can always carry with you, so most lucky charms are small enough to fit in your wallet or pocket, or worn in other ways, such as a keychain, bag charm, bracelet, or, with a little creativity, even as earrings. Chinese lucky charms have the following characteristics: they are made of wood and have cheerful colors. They all have a loop so you can hang or attach them, and they all have colored cords. Interestingly, although they are made in China, the Chinese themselves don't know or use them because they originated in Mexico. An amulet, talisman, or fetish is an object believed to offer protection against danger, illness, and misfortune. A distinction that is sometimes made is that an amulet wards off negative forces, while a talisman harnesses positive forces and can even work remotely. Commonly used amulet materials include: (gem)stones, coins, drawings, rings, religious objects (Eye of Horus, Christian cross, Buddha statue), plants (e.g., the four-leaf clover; see also "deterrent herb"), and (parts of) animals. Even words are used as 'amulet'; for example, the Latin "Vade retro, Satanas" or the Throne Verse. Although the term refers to a similar object, the emphasis of an amulet is more on protection and warding off danger. A talisman serves the same purpose, but derives from it also as a bringer of good luck in the eyes of its users. The Cyranides is an anonymous encyclopedia on amulets from the 1st century BC. Pliny the Elder describes amulets used for curing illness, relieving pain, or protecting against black magic in book 30 of his Naturalis Historia. In the 8th-century Indiculus superstitionum et paganiarum, the use of amulets was condemned. The choice of rock crystal as a drinking vessel or as part of medieval jewelry can be attributed to the belief that these crystals would break or discolor when they came into contact with poison. Thus, the chain became an amulet that protected the king.
