Guangong is a favorite icon indicating brotherhood code.
Like other tattooing practices of other ethnics, the Chinese tattoo masters also have their set of taboos. Below is a short list:
It is a taboo to tattoo a solo blood hunger wolf for a blood thirst wolf will cause a family to perish.
It is not advised to tattoo broken limbs for the person shall be short lived.
It is a taboo to tattoo a tiger that decends a mountain for the master shall be devoured.
It is a taboo to tattoo an opened eye Guan Gong for the person shall become a cold blood killer.
It is a taboo to tattoo Tang Sanzang (唐三藏) for he shall be met with many disasters.
It is a taboo to tattoo small Nezha (哪吒) for he might be killed by a dragon.
It is a taboo to tattoo an old Zhongkui (钟馗) for not only he couldn't ward off ghosts; thieves come to him.
It is already a difficult life, whatever you do; don't tattoo an opened eye Guangong. If you prefer, then tattoo a happy opened eyes smiling sheep (喜洋洋)! The bigger the eyes the merrier.
Talking about taboos of Chinese tattoos, I remembered a story told by a lady masseur, Lily:
"Sometime ago I was visited by a customer who wanted to have a full body massage. I asked him to take off his shirt so he complied and exposing the opened eyes Guangong tattoo on his back.
I asked the person to lay face down so that I could step on his back to massage with my soles. It is a standard practice to loosen the shoulder muscles...
As soon as I stepped onto the Guangong's face, the customer suddenly twitched and white foam came out from his mouth.
Due to his twitch, I also lost balance and fell down from the bed and hurt my back.
The man was sent to the hospital and I had to stop my work for 3 months recuperating.
Do you think it is true that the Guangong punished me for stepping on his face?"
I shrugged and replied: "Perhaps it was just an unfortunate coincidence."
What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment