Why do parents make tiger head cap and dog head shoes for their children?

Old folk, parents have made tiger shoes, dog head cap custom for children. The living and breathing tiger shoes, dog head cap fine workmanship, embroidery beautiful, is a traditional Chinese folk handicraft products. So, people give children to do tiger shoes, dog head cap just because it looks good?

The tiger is one of the four great beasts of ancient China, and is the king of beasts. It is believed that a tiger will protect you from evil and keep you safe. When the child reaches the age of one, the parents will make tiger shoes for the child to wear. The toe of the shoe is covered with a large tiger's head. In some places, the whole shoe is made to look like a tiger. The tiger's head is the upper and the tiger's body is the upper. There is a folk song that says, "The first pair is blue, the second pair is red, and the third pair is purple." It means the child should wear 3 colors of tiger shoes.

The first pair of blue, meaning to stop the child to protect life; the second pair of red, meaning to avoid evil spirits from disaster; the third pair of purple, take the meaning of peace and grow into adulthood. About the dog's head cap, folklore has such a legend: in the area of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, there is a large family. The owner is called Guigen, already over 60 years old and no heir.

One day, the couple heard that his brother passed away, it is intended to alleviate the burden of the sister-in-law, will be one of the two children in the brother's home to raise. But the daughter-in-law misunderstood their good intentions, not only did not let them take the children, but also bad language. The old couple sighed and returned home. Not long after, Guigen's daughter-in-law became pregnant. The two were overjoyed.f The pregnancy lasted for ten months, and it was time for her to go into labor. It happened that Guigen's family store had a problem. As a last resort, he called the maternity nurse Ti to take care of his wife who was about to go into labor.

After taking care of things at the store, Gueigen rushed home in a hurry. However, when he arrived home, he saw only the tears of his wife, but there was no sign of the child. Asked only to know, the original partner gave birth to a child will not cry, not a moment later, died, afraid of Guigen see sad, the midwife has thrown the child. I heard the news, Guigen lost his voice and cried, his own children have not seen on the first glance on the dead.

The next day, the couple was woken up by their old yellow dog. The dog's voice over, only to see the kennel lying in a newborn baby. Guigen companion look, it is the child who died yesterday, the child's face is red and sweet sleep. The old couple rushed to carry the child to the house. Originally, the sister-in-law has long coveted the property of the Guigen family, originally thought they had no heir, which became > Guigen old to get a son. So she bribed the midwife to strangle the child at the time of birth.

However, what the midwife did was discovered by Guigen's old yellow dog. The old yellow dog followed the birth attendant and brought back the baby she had abandoned. After a night's vigil, the baby gradually regained its breath. Later, the story spread among the people. People thought that the dog had saved the baby's life. The custom of making a skullcap for the child arose. People believe that the child put on the dog's head cap, the child can eliminate disasters, good luck.