“Every time a bell rings, an Angel gets its wings”
- It’s a Wonderful Life

Bells have served, among most peoples for thousands of years, as an amulet, fertility charm, curative agent, or purely musical instrument.
- Bell Friends

Icky, But Interesting:
Fifteenth Century England was old and small, and they started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a house and reuse the grave. In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. Hence on the “graveyard shift" they would know that someone was “saved by the bell" or he was a “dead ringer."

Feng Shui: The Healing Power of Bells
For centuries, folklore has held that bells have the power to banish evil and invite good fortune. In the Middle Ages, doctors suggested ringing bells to clear the air of disease. Church bells were deemed so important to ward off evil that the bells were baptized, named for saints and even said to ring on their own.

Today, with increased interest in feng shui -- the ancient Chinese art of placement -- more people are using bells in their homes and offices. According to feng shui, chimes and bells don't just ward off evil, they actually call in positive energy called Qi (pronounced “chee"). Feng shui holds that hanging chimes in the entryway of your house opens you to new opportunities. And, chimes hung throughout can circulate and enhance the energy within your living space. Denise Linn of the Feng Shui Guild in Boulder, Colorado, says bells are often used for clearing stagnant energy to promote good health and fortune. “it is best to have a series of bells," explains Linn. “Large ones with deeper sounds are useful for breaking up stagnant energy. Smaller ones bring a refined purity into a room."

Lina Visconti of Feng Shui Canada suggests hanging wind chimes in a child's room. “Silence and lack of movement for a child can result in a feeling of loneliness, desolation, boredom, and lack of energy. Introducing movement and sound can uplift energy and create comforting feelings."
by Cynthia Boris, Delicious! magazine July 1999

More Feng Shui:
Bells are one of the nine basic cures in Feng Shui. Used outside and inside, bells and wind chimes help moderate ch’i circulation and can dispense malign energy, such as that found in long hallways. Hung on an outside eve, they can improve residents’ finances.
- Adapted from Feng Shui Design by Sarah Rossbach and Master Lin Yun, Viking 1998

Even More Feng Shui:
The ringing bell attracts good chi (life energy), this creates a positive energy flow around you when you wear this petite bell charm. According to ancient Chinese sayings, positive flow of chi in one's life will result in a healthy, happy and lucky life full of balance and harmony.
Each time the bell rings, may your wish be granted.

Bells Symbolize

Celebration • Freedom • Friendship
Liberty • Gathering Together • Call to Worship
Joy • Commemoration • Mountain Sounds
Warning • Announcement • Solidarity
Clarity • Time • Mindfulness
Communication • Wake-up Call
Ring up a Sale • Memory • Music
Magic • Dinner

FRENCH Wedding Tradition:
Chiverie is the wedding night prank of clanging pots to interrupt the nuptial couple; the groom must invite the mischief makers in for refreshments. This mock serenade used to be played at all weddings. Sometimes, however, only unpopular weddings were subjected to it.

The French brought the custom to America, where it spread from Canada and Louisiana to the South and Midwest. In rough pioneer settlements, the "shivaree", as it came to be called, was very popular and often elaborated into a ritual humiliation of the bride and bridegroom. This has led to tying a cowbell under the bed or tying cans to the car, still scaring away spirits.

Info@cowbell.com

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