At the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, a group of young ladies wearing tiger hats was really cute. Tiger head hat tiger tiger is angry, cartoon style and looks cute, with the guide sisters clear water out of the face of hibiscus, as soon as it appears, it is loved by people. I think this look is great. However, many people do not know that the real value of the tiger head hat is not its appearance, but its deep and fascinating historical connotation.
It is said that the source of Chinese tiger head hat making is the ancient Greek lion head hat, and then there is a process from a lion head hat to a tiger head hat.
Speaking of the "lion's head hat", it is first necessary to understand Hercules, the greatest hero of ancient Greek mythology. Hercules was the son of the god king Zeus and his lover Archmene, and he grew up with amazing strength and a special love to fight and hug. At that time, ancient Greece was full of primitive forests, and there were many and fierce beasts in the forest, and there were often wild beasts that harmed the surrounding people. Among them, there is a half-human, half-demon male lion called the Nemea Giant Lion, which is said to have fallen from the moon, and its skin is extremely strong, and ordinary human weapons cannot stab it at all. But Hercules was not afraid of it, and he found the giant lion, maneuvered around, and strangled it with his innate divine power. After that, Hercules peeled off the lion's skin from the lion's melon seeds, made a set of armor, and made a helmet. It is this helmet, and people call it "lion's head hat".
in Hercules
The story of the "lion's head hat" has since spread in Greece and Europe. Later, the macedonian kingdom in northern Greece became strong, and the leader Alexander the Great swept away the four forces and established a large empire spanning Asia, Africa and Europe. Alexander was particularly fond of Hercules, who made a "lion's hat" for himself according to the legendary "lion's head hat". Alexander the Great then wore a "lion's hat" and fought all the way to India in South Asia. Wherever he hit, the "lion's head hat" became popular, then, he conquered India, and the "lion's head hat" also spread to India.
(Alexander the Great)
Special mention should be made here of Buddhism in India. Some Buddhists in India are very interested in Greek culture, and they have integrated the image of the "lion's head hat" into the Buddhist art of statue-making, and when making Vajra, the king of heaven and other protectors, they wear a "lion's head hat" with strong Greek colors. Later, the Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang traveled west to introduce Indian Buddhism to China, and there were frequent cultural exchanges between China and India. As a result, India introduced the Greek "lion's head hat" to China. In the 4th century AD, some protectors wearing "lion helmets" appeared in Buddhist temples in many parts of northern China, which fully shows that the "lion's head hat" has spread to China. After that, Chinese military generals began to accept Alexander's "lion's head hat" culture and made themselves hats with exotic characteristics.
When the Chinese warriors accepted the "lion's head hat" culture, they did not copy it, but made relatively large improvements. They replaced the image of the lion with a tiger, perhaps because there are no lions in China. As a result, the "lion's head hat" became the "tiger head hat" for the first time in China. The "tiger head hat" is the same majesty as the "lion's head hat", but the tiger is more vivid and lively than the lion. This is proved by excavated cultural relics, and many of the samurai figurines in the tombs of the Sui Dynasty on the mainland are wearing tiger helmets and mingguang armor. The famous warrior Wei Chi Jingde during the Tang Dynasty also unearthed the "tiger head hat" warrior figurine in his tomb, and it is also colorful.
(Wei Chi Jingde)
Soon after the "tiger head hat" was produced among the warriors, it spread to the people, and ordinary people also began to like the "tiger head hat". However, it is mainly some small children who wear it. In a Certain Tang Tomb in the Eastern Suburbs of Xi'an, a baby figurine with a tiger's head hat was found, indicating that in the Tang Dynasty, the "tiger head hat" had entered the homes of ordinary people. However, there are not many such tombs in the Tang Dynasty, indicating that they are not very popular. The real "children's tiger head hat" pandemic was in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty on the mainland. At that time, China was a difficult period of being invaded by foreign enemies and the difficult transformation of society, coupled with the fires of war, it was not easy for children to feed. The people hoped that the mighty tiger would bless the children's peace and keep all disasters away, so they invariably made or bought tiger hats for the children and put them on their heads. It has become a very special landscape.
In summary, as a wearing culture, the tiger head hat is introduced to China from ancient Greece, and the Chinese people to be transformed to a certain extent, and finally formed a culture of Chinese and Western integration. Now it is applied to the Winter Olympics, which not only fits the theme of this year's Year of the Tiger, but also expresses the good wishes of cultural exchanges, integration and common development between China and the West.
Note: There is a view that the tiger head hat is not inspired by the Greek lion's head hat, but the original of the Chinese Tang Dynasty themselves. I can only say that the benevolent see the benevolent, the wise see the wise, and I admit that what you say is reasonable, but I insist on my opinion.