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Guardians of the Home: Traditional Statues of Property Protection

By: Karrie Rose

Many ancient homes and important buildings were guarded by stone images that represented protection by the otherworld. If your tastes run to statuary and you want to explore the idea of decorating your house with silent guardians, consider the following:

Fu Dog (also known as Fu Lion, Foo Dog, lion of Buddha, Shishi or Imperial Guardian Lion):

Fu Dogs come in pairs, as the female (characterized by the single cub under her left paw) guards the people living inside the home, while the male (whose right paw rests on a ball) guards the home itself. Fu Dogs were actually Chinese depictions of lions, but since lions are not native to China, the original artists were stuck using the next closest model at hand, which would have been the larger domestic dogs used for guardianship purposes.

Sphinx:

Sphinxes are figures of lions with human heads that were guardians of important structures. The most famous Sphinx guards the pyramids of Giza. Another famous Sphinx was the one whom Oedipus defeated by guessing correctly her riddle. Egypt is not the only home of the Sphinx; it is also known to India, Burma, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. The Sphinx is a guardian of mysteries, knowledge, and power.

Gargoyle:

The word "gargoyle" sounds Gothic and mysterious, but it came from French "gargouille", which meant "throat" or "gargle". This was because the early origins of this stone image was as decoration for a spout that directed water from the roof away from the sides of a building. However, they were also used for protection, to scare evil spirits away. This is why so many depictions of gargoyles are of ugly, fantastical creatures.

Grotesque (Chimera):

"Grotesque" is how architecture distinguishes gargoyles from statuary that was not designed as a waterspout. The term comes from Latin, sharing its origin with "grotto", meaning a small hollow. Grotesques can be just as the name claims, with many resembling imps and creatures of man's darker imaginings of a world beyond.

Men With Big Swords:

Warrior guardians can be found watching over temples and graves in China for millennia. They represented many different beings, from symbols of armies long-dead to depictions of gods who granted the house their protection. Some legends held that if the home was threatened, the warriors would wake up from their stone sleep to defend it.

Since not many cultures are going to be thrilled if you take their sacred statues home after a tour, it's fortunate that many companies advertising today on the Internet carry replicas of many ancient artifacts. If you do a search on the kind of guardian that you want, you will likely find many avenues to indulge your taste.

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