In ancient times, the folk believed that the tiger was majestic and mighty, but it could calm all the beasts, and it was a symbol of exorcising evil spirits and avoiding disasters, peace and auspiciousness. Therefore, people are willing to dress up children in tiger shapes, which means that children can grow up healthily, strong and brave. Tiger head shoes and hats are a long-standing handicraft, and folk have the tradition of "wearing tiger shoes and tiger hats when the New Year arrives". With the help of the tiger's blessing, express the good intention of "no disease and no disaster". Especially on the day when the child is "100 years old", he wears a tiger head hat and pedals tiger head shoes, which is festive and auspicious. Tiger head shoes and hats pay attention to male red female green, meaning "red official green lady". When the boy grows up, he will enter the picture, and it is expected that the child will become the meaning of the dragon; the girl will become the mother-in-law, and the girl will become the meaning of the phoenix. This custom has been circulating on the banks of the Dagu River in Shandong Province for more than 2,000 years and is still popular today.
Tiger head shoes and hats are all handmade products with one needle and one line, and the process is very cumbersome and complicated. It must be cut, pasted, inserted, stabbed, sewn and other dozens of work to complete. It takes five or six days to make a complete tiger head hat, and it takes three or four days to make a pair of tiger head shoes to complete. The main materials are shoe samples, fabrics, cotton and silk thread. Choose fabrics that are not easy to burr, and the color is mainly red, yellow and other solid color fabrics. The inside is made of soft and comfortable cotton, the outside is made of bright and smooth satin, and the good cotton is wrapped in thick cloth, which can not only support the three-dimensional feeling of the tiger, but also protect the child's young feet and head. The production steps of tiger head shoes and hats are roughly the same as those of general shoes and hats, but the practice of tiger heads is added. Tiger eyes, tiger eyebrows, tiger mouths, tiger noses, tiger ears, need to use embroidery, plucking flowers, beating and other stitches, especially to show the tiger's three-dimensional ears and eyes.
With the development of the times, although the materials and colors of tiger head shoes and hats have undergone certain changes, their simplicity, original color and beautiful meaning have been passed down from generation to generation.
Tiger head tiger brain to welcome the year of the tiger, tiger head shoes and hats to bless the future life, no disease and no disaster to ensure peace!
Produced by Ocean Wave Studios
Design: Yanjiao Chen Editor: Wang Jinchuan
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