The "Ovidiu Oana" private bell collection
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Go up to the albums list Album 5. Religious bells (50 images, size 12.93 MB)
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Vădastra Eneolithic pottery - copy made by Ionel Cococi after the original dated at the end of the 5th millennium BC. The Vădastra culture was located in southern Romania.
VADASTRA idol
Valdai and Kasimov bell		In Pagan folklore the ring of a bell is symbolic of creative forces, evoking good energy, and clear thoughts. For this reason, the bell has long been believed to repel evil spirits, and as such "witches' bells" would be hung upon doors and other entry ways to protect the home. Can be hung in two ways; at the top is a high quality swivel lobster clasp to make it easy to clip-on to a suitable hanging source (the clasp opens to a maximum of 5mm) but there is also a red nylon cord for placing over larger door handles and so forth. I have used red cord because of the colour's Wiccan association with energy. Keys are considered symbols of good luck in folklore across the world, but I have specifically used one here because keys also symbolise the opening and closing of powers; in this case and context, the opening of good powers and the closing of bad ones.
Witches Bells Keychain
Clopot de bronz. Totem din cultura YORUBA (Nigeria centrală). Turnat probabil secolele. 18 - 19. Religia Yoruba cuprinde conceptele religioase și spirituale tradiționale și practica poporului yoruba. Localizarea sa este în sud-vestul Nigeriei și în zonele învecinate din Benin și Togo, cunoscute sub numele de Yorubaland. Un cadou original şi preţios de la colega mea Nusia. *** Bronze bell. Totem from the YORUBA culture (Central Nigeria). Probably cast 18th - 19th centuries. The Yoruba religion comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in present-day Southwestern Nigeria and the adjoining parts of Benin and Togo, commonly known as Yorubaland. An original and precious gift from my colleague Nusia.
Yoruba bell		Zhong (Wade-Giles romanization chung), Chinese clapperless bronze bells produced mainly during the late Zhou (c. 600–255 bc) dynasty and used as a percussion instrument in ancient China. Although the term also denotes the religious bells used daily in Buddhist temples. Made of clay in Neolithic times, the zhong was crafted in bronze during the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1066 bc). In performance the early zhong was either held by hand or placed on a seat with its mouth upward and struck with a mallet. This kind of zhong is also called nao in order to differentiate it from the suspended type. The suspended bells fall into two main categories: those with a straight handle plus a lug at the top, which are suspended slantwise on a wooden frame, are called yongzhong; those having a ring that allows for vertical suspension are called niuzhong. The earliest known yongzhong dates to the 10th century bc, and the earliest niuzhong to the 8th century bc. At the time, the shape of both the yongzhong and the niuzhong was not round but rather like a squashed cylinder or two tiles attached on three sides. A large and single zhong, usually of the bo variety (having a loop top, a flat bottom rim, and a rounder body shape), is considered a tezhong (“special bell”). My temple bell was cast XIV century a.D. and is 33 cm tall.
Zhong
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The pictures found on this site present bells from a private collection.
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