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Originally Posted by chregu
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hi Chregu
if you studied what said "wikipedia" about "cowries"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowry
- a currency in Africa.
- The Ghanaian unit of currency known as the Ghanaian cedi was named after cowry shells.
- cowry shells, or copies of the shells, were used as Chinese currency.
- They were also used as means of exchange in India.
- The Classical Chinese character for money(貝) originated as a stylized drawing of a cowrie shell.
- The Ojibway aboriginal people in North America use cowry shells which are called sacred Miigis Shells or whiteshells in Midewiwin ceremonies,
and the Whiteshell Provincial Park in Manitoba, Canada is named after this type of shell.
- Cowry shells were among the devices used for divination by the Kaniyar Panicker astrologers of Kerala, India.
- Cowry shells are also worn as jewelry or otherwise used as ornaments or charms.
- They are viewed as symbols of womanhood, fertility, birth and wealth.
- The symbolism of the cowry shell is associated with the appearance of its underside:
the lengthwise opening makes the shell look like a vulva or an eye.
- Cowry shells are sometimes used in a way similar to dice
- in divination (cf. Ifá and the annual customs of Dahomey of Benin).
- On the Fiji Islands, a shell of the golden cowry or bulikula, Cypraea aurantium, was drilled at the ends and worn on a string around the neck by chieftains as a badge of rank.
- Large cowry shells such as that of Cypraea tigris have been used in Europe in the recent past as a frame over which sock heels were stretched for darning.
as you may see, their popularity is covering roughly all continents
some months ago, I found, loose close to our house, an handkerchief (clean) containing at least 15 or 18 "cowry",
but my wife, who believe on ... divination, without to informed me, has deposited some where (?), the handkerchief and the shells, too scare to keep it at home
à +
Dom