| Original Message: Re: Tibetan Coral Beads |
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Hi Jamey,
You're most likely correct - but there are three points to note.
- Tibetans seem to hold anything that originates from the sea as precious - you find stalls selling shells/shell beads - and pearls are very popular.
- In all of our travels in Tibet we've never seen carnelian worn in the form of pemma raka. In fact I wear pemma raka on a daily basis and have been asked on many occasions by ordinary Tibetans, in Tibetan areas, who were not involved in the bead/antique business what it was.Nowadays pemma raka seems only to be found in the antique markets. By the way, Pemma raka carnelian looks very differnt to most of the modern "carnelian" type beads on offer today.
- red is very symbolic in China - motorists often tie red strips of cloth onto the wing mirrors of their cars to ward off accidents - and certainly not as something to enhance the cars appearance. Tibetans have the same practice but usually use a white or orange holy scarf - where once again the color choice is not just made on purely aesthetic grounds. Even the number of beads is often decided through tradition/ritual - whether is be 108/44 etc etc (my wife knows all those holy numbers - my addled brain can only remember 108). Even in the big jewelry wholesale markets in Chengdu - many beads sellers still sell beads in strands with these numbers - even if the beads are modern mass produced crapolla - and never intended for use as prayer beads.
To find out how important ritual is in Tibet (at least outside Lhasa) - try walking around a temple in the wrong direction - jeez those looks can kill - and in the end somebody may come to try and stop you.
The pic is of some of our old pemma raka - this type of carnelian has been traded from China and is know as nan hong - southern red. The other pic is of some old carnelian rounds that have been used in Tibet. By the way - we've hardly travelled through all of Tibet - its a pretty big place - so there hopefully are places where they still wear Pemma raka. But everywhere we've been to coral/or coral look-a-like stuff is on sale. All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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