little red string
“ By night- so the story goes- the mysterious old man in the moon ties a magical and invisible red thread round the legs of new-born boys and girls. When they grow up, they are drawn together by a powerful bond of which they are completely unaware.”
A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought By Wolfram Eberhard
as men and women are tied together by a red string, so we too, are married to the earth.
reflecting upon how america was established and the difficult decision our ancestors made. to leave their homeland and immigrate to a distant country with everything and everyone left behind.
how displaced they must have felt
how lonely and foreign.
whenever we travel far we look towards the stars to orient us. upon further study of chinese constellations we find that the year has been broken into multiple seasons (ex: slight cold, great cold, waking of insects, grain rain, pure brightness etc...).
how specific and poetic.
a culture that identifies with where they are and what this earth is doing.
it’s almost as if they can hear the earth breathing.
we look to the sky for that connection. for the red string. some semblance and familiarity of home.
photo credit: jeff reeder