Page 32 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 25
Ball

qiu

A ball made from red material or from feathers plays a very big part in the Chinese opera
and in many popular traditions. In South China it was customary for a girl, on reaching
marriageable age, to invite suitors to present themselves before her balcony on a given
day: she then threw down a ball, and the man who caught it became her husband.
The favourite day for this ceremony was the 15th day of the 8th month – that is to say,
the day of the ‘Mid-autumn Festival’ (a sort of harvest thanksgiving) and also a lunar
Festival ( moon). In many parts of Central China, a red ball was fastened to the roof
of the litter which bore the bride to the home of her bridegroom.
At the ‘Dragon-lamp Festival’, held on the 15th day of the 1st month, the dragons
(made from cloth and paper) played with an ‘embroidered ball’. This was a fertility
festival marking the end of the long-drawn-out New Year Feast, and the dragons
symbolised the rain-bearing clouds of spring. A ball is often found in association with the
group of two stone lions which guard temple gates against demons. The eastern lion rolls
the magic sphere under his left paw, while the western one suckles its cub (according to
popular tradition) with the right paw. Like an egg, the magic sphere contains the lion cub;
rolling the ball helps the cub to hatch out. It is also said that the hairs torn out during
love-play between the lions form the magic ball. So, here again, the ball serves as a
symbol of fertility.

Two lions play with a ball