Friday 9 November 2012

Where did wind chimes originate from?

Back in the time of Confucius there was great concern over the state of the human heart. It was believed that the heart would emit chords whenever it was experiencing emotions such as joy, sadness or anger. In the time of Confucius these feelings were accessed through music and it was believed that music could restore balance to the soul. Confucius, along with the input of selected specialist advisors, set what became known as the foundation tone. This perfect tone was then built into bamboo Wind Chimes that people could hang from their homes in order to ward off evil spirits.

Were bamboo wind chimes used for anything else?



The chimes were also used to provide warning of disaster events as it was believed that there would be a divine wind to warn of the impending doom. As many types of natural disaster are accompanied by strong winds, then this method wasn’t completely useless.

What about the use of wind chimes today?

Wind chimes still have some of the same symbolic meanings now as they did back in Confucius’ day. The concordant tinkling of wind chimes on a beautiful sunny day is both relaxing and reassuring.

Does it matter what a wind chime is made from?

In many ways it does not matter a great deal what the material is that a chime is made from and chimes have been made from many materials over the years. The original chimes were made from bamboo, but it is more common to find metal wind chimes now. What is more important is the tuning of the chimes for if they are not matched with each other their sound becomes discordant and unpleasant, which creates exactly the opposite effect to the one that is desired, which is tranquillity and relaxation.