Saturday, November 17, 2012

Gilded Swans



We have just released our new box, the “Gilded Swan”.  It has been so much fun to create and just in time for holiday giving or receiving!  It glints with gold that seems to shimmer in the light.  Filled with fun toys for any stitcher  to enjoy.  There is a beaded scissors fob which ends in a golden swan charm and attached to a beautiful pair of scissors. A swan waxer,  a tiny tri-fold with a thread counter bejeweled with another swan and holding a needle ready to start your stitching, a pin keep with beautiful jewel-topped pins and a 3” quick start/thread palette doing double work complete this set.  Just the right size, this 4” box can go anywhere you take your needlework.


So it has us thinking about the swans we enjoy on many of the samplers we see in historic needlework.  Why were they placed on the sampler and what was it a symbol of for the women who choose to stitch them?

The Swan has many meanings through history, not only in needlework but in various forms of artwork and folklore.


The Simply Samplers site has many motifs explained as well as lots of other wonderful information.


Swan: the bird of love and is associated with Venus and Cupid; also because it believed to sing sweetly when dying, it represents a good death; in Germanic mythology , being an attribute of Wotan, it is a creature of the sun, a bringer of light and life. It is the typical symbol of purity and of chance. Rare in the old samplers, it became more popular in the nineteenth century.

I think it is amazing when we think of some of the meanings regarding love and romance, that when you look and find the two swans together they create a heart.




Symbolic swan meaning continues the theme of transformation in the tale of the Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson. Mislabeled from birth, the little duckling lives his life with the heroic heart of a swan. Indeed, after growing strong under the nurturing of kind humans, the duckling is set free, and sees its image for the first time in a reflective pool of water to discover he had “transformed” into a lovely swan.




Who doesn’t love this little fairy tale? It reminds us of our inherent glory, power and beauty (as the duckling was always a graceful swan). At the same time, the tale encourages us to have faith and have a persistent heart while pursuing the gifts that are our birthright.

Dreams hold many symbolic references.  White swans in dreams are symbolic of cleansing and purifying ourselves and our lives. Black swans indicate deep mysteries within us that are longing to be set free to express themselves creatively. Dreaming of a swan may signify self-transformation, intuition, sensitivity, the soul.

For many cultures the white swan is a symbol of light, both as a feminine symbol of the moon and a masculine symbol of the sun. In Greek mythology, the swan has been linked to Apollo, to Zeus who took the shape of a swan to seduce Leda, to Aphrodite and Artemis who were sometimes shown accompanied by swans.
 Leda and Zeus (as a Swan), ''El Prado'' Museum, Madrid. Photo by Alejandro Bárcenas

Many cultures have stories incorporating the swan as a symbol of transformation and many of the people transformed in the stories are women.

In India stories tell that  it was the swan that lay the Cosmic Egg on the waters, from which Brahma sprang. The In Hindu tradition, swans represent the perfect union, and the spirit of Brahma.The Hindu goddess Saraswati who is the goddess of learning, music and wisdom has a swan as Her companion animal. The word in Sanskrit for swan is "hansa" or "hamsa" so the Divine is also called Parmahansa or Parmahamsa.



Folklore is filled with tales of people and sometimes the gods changing into swans.
 The swan is a totem of beauty and grace. As in the story of the Ugly Duckling, it connotes inner beauty as well. If Swan is your totem animal, you are emotionally sensitive, and empathic towards the feelings of others, and you draw people to you. The pure white swan is a solar symbol, whereas the Australian Black Swan is a nocturnal symbol. The swan, with its long neck, acts as a bridge between the worlds, making it an oracular bird. Being a cool weather bird, its direction is North. Swans are excellent totems for children, those connected to the Fairy Realm, poets, bards, mystics, and dreamers.

 In the Medicine Cards, pulling the Swan card tells you to “accept your ability to know what lies ahead, pay attention to your hunches, gut knowledge, and female intuitive side.” Reversed, the Swan card means you are not grounded, not paying attention to your intuition, or the Unseen. The authors suggest that you “notice your surroundings, and touch the Earth; be still and focus on one reality or the other - the Dreamtime or the mundane world; stop the clutter in your mind and listen; or focus on a physical activity that will ground you.”


In Celtic lore, pulling the swan card can mean poetic inspiration from the Otherworld. It can also mean an enduring love is entering into your life.

Key words for symbolism of Swans:
Love, Grace. Union, Purity, Beauty, Dreams. Balance, Elegance, Partnership, Transformation



This is a new one, I haven’t heard this acronym before.
What does SWAN stand for? Society of Women Addicted to Needlework


This information below is where I found a lot of information and there is more if you wish to pull anything else from it….otherwise, you can just use the links to the web-sites for reference.


Swan: the bird of love and is associated with Venus and Cupid; also because it believed to sing sweetly when dying, it represents a good death; in Germanic mythology , being an attribute of Wotan, it is a creature of the sun, a bringer of light and life. It is the typical symbol of purity and of chance. Rare in the old samplers, it became more popular in the nineteenth century.

Swan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bird of love; also represents a good death



Swan Meaning and Swan Symbolism

Our first symbolic clues from the swan can be taken from observing them in nature. They are waterfowl, closely connected with water, even nesting near the water.

Water is symbolic of: Fluidity, Intuition, Dreaming, Emotions, Creativity.

In this respect, we can intuit the swan’s appearance in our lives as an arrow pointing to our dreamier depths and feelings. Furthermore, we get the sense of balance from swan meaning as it lives harmoniously amongst three of the four Aristotelian elements. Grounding herself on earth, lofting to great heights in the air, and winding through waters with magnificent elegance.



The swan may also bear messages of love and relationships. They pair for years, sometimes male-female unions are sustained for a lifetime. When the swan glides upon the waters of our awareness, it might be a symbol of love, and a reminder of the blessings found in our relationships.

The concept of partnership is further expressed on a divine level in Hinduism, wherein the swan graces vibrant traditions as the Hamsa bird. In the Saundarya Lahari (translated: “Waves of Beauty,” it’s a text filled with beautiful mantras from the Hindu perspective) two swans (Ham and Sa) pair together, swimming around in the divine mind “living on honey from the blooming lotus of knowledge.” Isn’t that a lovely concept?

In the Celtic mind, swans and geese were observed in the context of movement. Specifically, the keenly observant Celts noted their transitory nature and the swan’s pattern of migration. Consequently, the sign of the swan urged Celtic intuition to consider changes of mood (water) and heart (love).

Swan meaning is also linked to Celtic deities with solar associations, like Belanus and Lugh. As solar animals, the swan represents the rising glory of a new day as well as the farewell of an old day with the setting sun. Fittingly, the Celtic goddess Bridgid is also associated with the swan as her grace is expressed with equal elegance in the form of writing (poetry) and song.

Celtic myth also indicates when inhabitants of the Otherworld required passage to the physical land of life you and I experience every day, they would take the shape of the swan. Furthermore lore states they would travel out of the Otherworld in pairs, thus reinforcing the theme of union, bonds and partnership.

In Celtic art, gold and silver chains are often depicted around the swan's neck. I’ve read where this is symbolic of supernatural appearance of divine energy or the descent of gods to earth. I like to think the chains are symbolic of a harmony between cosmic forces; gold representing the sun, and silver symbolic of the moon. Perhaps the Celts recognized the essence of gods within the guise of the swan, and honored that power in the bird.

We see further themes of transformation and deific embodiment in Greek myth wherein Zeus (Jupiter in the Roman pantheon) transformed himself into a swan in an effort to slake his uncontrollable passion for Leda.

Symbolic swan meaning continues the theme of transformation in the tale of the Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson. Mislabeled from birth, the little duckling lives his life with the heroic heart of a swan. Indeed, after growing strong under the nurturing of kind humans, the duckling is set free, and sees its image for the first time in a reflective pool of water to discover he had “transformed” into a lovely swan.

Who doesn’t love this little fairy tale? It reminds us of our inherent glory, power and beauty (as the duckling was always a graceful swan). At the same time, the tale encourages us to have faith and have a persistent heart while pursuing the gifts that are our birthright.

In dreams, the swan asks us to spread our wings and take flight into our waking dreams. She also encourages us to strengthen our relationships, as well as make new, long-lasting bonds with people whom we admire.

White swans in dreams are symbolic of cleansing and purifying ourselves and our lives. Black swans indicate deep mysteries within us that are longing to be set free to express themselves creatively – perhaps as Bridgid would have us do, in poetry or music.



I hope you have enjoyed this page on swan meaning and symbolism. Keep swimming with the creative flow by visiting these related pages selected for you by Theophanes:


Can anyone tell me anything of the symbolism of swans in spirituality?

For many cultures the white swan is a symbol of light, both as a feminine symbol of the moon and a masculine symbol of the sun. In Greek mythology, the swan has been linked to Apollo, to Zeus who took the shape of a swan to seduce Leda, to Aphrodite and Artemis who were sometimes shown accompanied by swans.

Many cultures have stories incorporating the swan as a symbol of transformation and many of the people transformed in the stories are women.

In the symbolism of Alchemy, the swan was neither male nor female, but the "marriage of opposites", fire and water. It was associated with Mercury as it was white and winged.

Dreaming of a swan may signify self-transformation, intuition, sensitivity, the soul.

Native American

In Navajo tradition, the Great White Swan can call up the Four Winds. The Great Spirit will use swans to work its will.

Australian

The aborigines saw the Black Swans as the wives of their All Father.

Japan

In Ainu folk tales, the swan was an angelic bird who lived in heaven. When the Ainu fought amongst themselves killing all but one boy, the Swan descended from heaven, transformed into a woman, and reared the boy to manhood. She then married him to preserve the Ainu race.



India

It was the swan that lay the Cosmic Egg on the waters, from which Brahma sprang. The In Hindu tradition, swans represent the perfect union, and the spirit of Brahma.The Hindu goddess Saraswati who is the goddess of learning, music and wisdom has a swan as Her companion animal. The word in Sanskrit for swan is "hansa" or "hamsa" so the Divine is also called Parmahansa or Parmahamsa.

Folklore is filled with tales of people and sometimes the gods changing into swans.


-Zeus changed himself into a swan as a means of seduction. (Greek)

-The children of Lir were changed into swans for 900 years until the spell holding them was broken. (Celtic/ Irish)

-The Valkyries, warrior goddesses who chose the warriors to enter Valhalla after death, had the power to transform into swans. If a man stole their plumage, they were forced to obey him. (Germanic)


-Swans took off their plumage in fairy tales, revealing themselves as maidens (Celtic, Siberian and European)

-In Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Princess Odette is changed into a swan.

Adelaide Giuri as Odette and Mikhail Mordkin as Prince Siegfried with two unidentified children as Little Swans in Alexander Gorsky's staging of the Petipa/Ivanov Swan Lake for the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, 1901

-The Eleven Swans by Hans Christian Anderson, the story of Even princes, transformed into swans and their sister who must remaining mute, sew eleven shirts in seven years, to change them back again.


Phew!  Who knew our little Gilded Swan had such symbolism? 

While you're visiting our website, be sure to take a look at the Tokens of Friendship Subscription - this is such a fun thing to do for yourself or a friend - and you can only sign up at this time of year - subscriptions close on January 15th!

And of course, check out our big project for this year - the Imitation and Improvement: The Norfolk Sampler Tradition book!  This lovely volume is at the printer now, but you can have a sneak peek here!  

Every once in awhile, we stumble across a new blog or something of great interest, and today was no exception.  Take a look at Mary Jenkins' blog on Welsh samplers!  They are beautiful!  We signed up as followers immediately! http://welshfolkartsamplers.blogspot.co.uk/








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