Pining for Pinwheels
By Veronica MacDonald Ditko
An Accidental Anthropologist
There’s something about summer that brings out the colorful lawn ornaments. One that I find a bit mesmerizing is the pinwheel. One tuft of air will get that thing going like a little windmill, around and around like a hypnotizing clock. Summer parades are also chock full of little children running around with these colorful toys bought off street vendors.
If you lived in another country though, pinwheels would a carry different meaning. In Chinese culture, the pinwheel is an instrument to “turn one’s luck around,” or turn obstacles into opportunities. They have become quite elaborate and are used during Chinese New Year festivities to bestow good luck, longevity, health, and prosperity on its owner.
In fact, little verses with these wishes are attached to the blades of the pinwheel and are sent off into the universe when the wind blows. Also in China, pinwheels can also be seen in temples and cemeteries. They are believed to be for the loss of a child.
Pinwheels date back to Ancient China, at least 400 B.C. Over time, they moved to other countries and by the 15th Century, can be seen in a painting by Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch called, “Christ Child With a Walking Frame.” It is believed European immigrants brought them to America and they became a children’s delight.
Some people during the 1930s Depression also made a living by peddling them at parades and events, sometimes referring to them as whirligigs. This was their only income. Today, most of the ones seen at parades funnily enough come from China, the place of their origin.
The internet is full of instructions on how to make paper pinwheels. But there is a whole lot of discussion as to how pinwheels make adults feel. Many talk about the freedom, playfulness, and innocence of childhood. Maybe that is what they evoke in me too. But I do enjoy the endless hours of fun they give my own children. They’re better than a TV set during the endless days of summer! Nothing can beat that.
Veronica MacDonald Ditko is originally from the Jersey Shore, but married and settled in northern New Jersey. Her journalism career started a decade ago after studying Psychology and Anthropology in Massachusetts. She has written for several newspapers and magazines including The Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Springfield Union News and Sunday Republican, Happi, Chemical Week, The Hawthorne Press, The Jewish Standard, Suite101.com and more.