A Look at Hand Fans

Contributed by Valerie Battle Kienzle

The school year is winding down for most folks. Ahead are the lazy, steamy days of summer and figuring out ways to stay cool.

As a child, I spent many summer days with one or the other of my grandmothers. If my visit included a weekend, I knew to pack a dress for Sunday worship services.

Both grandmothers lived in small southern towns with white frame churches and no air conditioning. "Cooling off" during worship meant trying to catch a breeze from one of the sanctuary's open windows or using one of the cardboard hand fans found on each pew. The fans advertised the local fineral home.

I came across an old hand fan recently. It advertised a now-defunct daily newspaper from my hometown. I started thinking about hand fans. I own several that are 100+ years old and belonged to relatives. There was a time in U.S. history when most women carried a hand fan in their pockets or purses. A hand fan could provide a bit of cooling breeze and help keep insects away.

These days, hand fans are a bit of an oddity. You just don't see a lot of people in the U.S. pulling fans from their pockets or purses when the temperature soars, but that wasn't always true. Hand fans have a centuries-old history that covers many countries and cultures.

Fans are mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature. Fans are shown in art and drawings from Egypt, Persia, Babylon and China as well as Greece and Rome. Some of the artistic representations date back to 2600 B.C. It is believed that fans were used in some churches during the Middle Ages to brush away insects and to "refresh" the worshipers who sat through lengthy services. Fans were used in Spain in the 14th Century, and Christopher Columbus is said to have given a feather fan to a queen after his first trip to America.

Throughout history, hand fans were unique, hand-made works of art. The guard sticks and ribs were made of carved wood or ivory and were covered with silk, hand-painted paper, lace or other delicate materials. Some were decorated on both sides.
During the 1800s until the early 1900s, at a time in U.S. history when women had few opporunities to verbally express themselves in public, particularly to the opposite sex, hand fans became a popular silent method of communication. A "language" of fans evolved so that refined, demure women could say volumes without uttering a word. To express themselves, they simply placed or moved their fans. For example:

* Touching the fan to the right cheek meant "yes."

* Touching the fan to the left cheek meant "no."

* Moving the fan with the right hand meant "I love another."
* Holding the fan in front of the face with the right hand meant "follow me."

* Sliding the fan across the forehead meant "you have changed."
* Touching the fan to the left ear meant "leave me alone."

* Touching the edges of the fan with the fingers meant "I want to talk to you."

* Opening and closing the fan meant "you are cruel."

* Holding the fan closed meant "do you love me?"

* Sliding the fan on the cheek meant "I want you."

* Sliding it across the eyes meant "please go away."

* Leaving the fan hanging from the hand meant "we will continue being friends."

And finally,

* Throwing the fan meant "I hate you."

By today's standards, fan communication seems innocent and archaic. Our world is filled with reality shows featuring screaming, profanity-spewing participants; endless relationship drama; and a general attitude of rudeness.

It's hard to image, but did people really live and communicate this way? Was there indeed an era of "polite society?" If so, what happened? Why the change? Will societal norms someday change again? It's something to think about....

A Simple Cup of Tea

Contributed by Valerie Battle Kienzle

The British had the right idea. Taking time to enjoy a cup of tea requires slowing down and calming down -- at least for a few moments. Tea soothes the soul and provides renewal for mind and body. Sipping tea allows a savoring of the moment.

Tea has been a popular beverage for almost 5,000 years. People have cultivated it, been nurtured by it and fought over it. Black tea, green tea, oolong tea, white tea. The plant species camellia sinensis, when combined with water, maintains unrivaled popularity worldwide.

Tea is my favorite beverage. Hot or cold. With or without lemon. Spiced or plain. Always sweet. (I'm a native of the south.) I love it! Drinking tea is an important part of each day. And as a tea lover, I have a large and varied collection of tea cups, saucers and tea sets. At last count, the collection includeds 19 assorted fine china cups and saucers, three demitasse (small cup) sets, seven assorted demitasse cups and saucers, and six miniature tea sets.

I never made a conscious decision to collect tea items, and I didn't purchase most of them. The collection just happened. Within a few years' time, a great uncle died, an aunt died, my dear grandma passed away, followed by my husband's grandmother. Wills were read. Household items were divided and distributed, but in each case no one wanted the tea cups and saucers. Family members claimed antique furniture, cherished quilts and silverware, but the tea cups had no takers. No one wanted them -- except me.

I took them, but didn't really know what to do with them. Large, small, plain, delicately decorated, all colors, footed and in various shapes. Each cup and saucer pair was unique -- and to me, beautiful. I hated to see them discarded.

Then I began to hear stories about the origin and history of the cups. The small demitasse cups marked "Occupied Japan" were souvenirs sent to my aunt by a relavite during World War II.

The cups marked "Fine Bone China" -- Anysley, Spoede and Wedgewood -- were given to my husband's grandmother by various friends who

traveled to Europe. She selected and drank from a different cup each morning. (What a lovely routine!)

The great uncle was mayor of a small southern town in the 1920s. He and his wife did lots of entertaining in their home, and served guests from the tiny footed cups at the end of meals.

The bright floral cup with the chipped rim and deeply stained white interior held Grandma's tea. She was a rugged Depression-era farm wife, but enjoyed a soothing cup of hot tea each morning -- a few moments of quiet refinement in a day usually filled with chores and manual labor. The cups' stained finish speaks of a thousand early mornings filled with her favorite warm amber beverage.

Each cup and saucer in my collection is unique. Each has a story. And I enjoy and appreciate each one. I like to think about the people who may have sipped from these cups -- members of the church service guild and the bridge club ladies, a young widow, the weekly quilting group, small-town politicians and circuit pastors, war brides and hard-working rural housewives. I gently hold the cups and feel a connection to those who drank from them long ago.

In today's fast-paced world, tea is often gulped from a coated paper cup or a Styrofoam cup. Tastes great and soothes the soul, but there's something special about sipping from a delicate china cup. It's a way to truly savor a few moments of luxury in a fast-paced world.

It's All In The Cards

I collect postcards. The older the better. I have hundreds -- from beautifully lithographed Victorian penny postcards to quirky mid-century cartoon cards and photo cards featuring 1960s tourist attractions. The graphics are amazing, the supply plentiful, and the best thing -- most are inexpensive.

I search gift shops, truck stops and antique malls, looking for more unique paper treasures. I love to read the names and messages on the old cards, and to note the postmarks. A recent trip to a nearby antique mall resulted in the purchase of three vintage cards for a total price of $.91. Quite the deal!

One of the cards features a black and white photo of a man in a suit and black bowler hat standing among a flock of ostriches. What an unusual image! I had to have it.

The accompanying caption read, "Ostriches at South Pasadena, California, at the Ostrich Farm." The message said, "Cora: Here is something that will interest you. Here grows your feather and right now. Have seen these and many more; 6-8 ft. high. Can carry a man all over lot. Mable." The postmark was Venice, Calif., Nov. 17, 1909, 8 a.m.

I examined the card again at home, and then curiosity led me to do a web search for ostrich farms. Here's what I found --

Clothing styles and trends have come and gone for centuries. In the late 19th century, many clothing items in the U.S. and throughout the world were adorned with ostrich feathers. Demand for the feathers was so high that an enterprising English businessman named Edwin Cawston purchased about 50 ostriches and had them shipped from South Africa to Texas. From there, the birds were loaded on a train and transported to a newly-incorporated area called Pasadena, California -- just a few miles from downtown Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, only 18 ostriches survived the trip, but there were enough to eventually populate Cawston's farm with more than 100 birds. His became the first U.S. ostrich farm. The ostriches were raised for their feathers, but that left Cawston with a lot of large birds on hand and not a lot to do with them while they sprouted new feathers.

But necessity, the old adage says, is the mother of invention. Cawston opened his farm to the public as a tourist attraction, and for the next 30+ years crowds flocked to the farm.

Transportation to the ostrich farm wasn't a problem. The farm sat close to a trolley line that ran from Los Angeles. Guests staying at a nearby hotel frequently visited the farm, too. And the attractions Cawston offered were unique. Where else could folks mix and mingle with ostriches, ride on their backs, or take a ride in an ostrich-drawn carriage? Seems pretty tame compared to today's amusement park rides that reach 60-mile-an-hour speeds and twirl riders like socks in a clothes dryer.

Cawston was an innovative marketer before Walt Disney was even born. He sold souvenirs like ostrich letter openers and -- get this -- more than two dozen different picture postcards. Countless visitors paid admission fees to his farm and posed for family photographs in his ostrich carriages. Cawston made a small fortune.

Cawston Ostrich Farm no longer exists, but ostrich farms are plentiful in the U.S. Ostrichland, U.S.A. in Solvang, California, welcomes guests in much the same way as Cawston Ostrich Farm did decades ago. Ostrich feathers, again a popular commodity, are used in clothing, floral arrangements, Mardi Gras masks, fans, and quill wedding pens. Ostrich skin is tanned and used to make boots, purses and wallets. And ostrich meat is described as America's new red meat -- low in fat and cholesterol.

So that's the story behind my 102-year-old postcard purchased for $.25. It's an example of marketing genius. It makes an interesting addition to my postcard collection, and it makes me smile.

Old postcards, along with other paper ephemera, are a popular segment in the antique market. Thankfully, the supply remains plentiful and affordable.