Umbrella | Religion

Umbrella or parasol appears in many belief systems both as a spiritual symbol and physical object carried in religious events, rituals, and festivals. In Ancient Greece, the followers of Dionysus were carrying parasols in bright colors in festivals and processions. More significantly, the carriage of parasols was associated with Skirophoria an Athenian agricultural festival held in the month of final harvest corresponding to May or June. In this festival, the priestess of Athena and the priests of Poseidon and Helios were walking from the Acropolis to a place called Skiron under the cover of a large white umbrella symbolizing the protection of the Attic soil against the burning sun rays. Skirophoria was organized by only Athenian women and dedicated to Demeter who is the goddess of fruitfulness and her daughter Persephone indicating the interpretation of the white umbrella as a pray toward the gods for fertility. The white parasol arises as a deity in Buddhism called “Ushnisha Sitatapatra” which means “The Victorious White Parasol”. In this case, the parasol she carries symbolizes protection from diseases and catastrophes while white color is referring to peace and pacification as her method of protection. Additionally, the umbrella is one of the “eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism” which are a set of objects that were believed to be representative of enlightenment. In Buddhism, the open form of umbrella is considered as the dome of the sky that protects the earth by shadowing it, and the pole symbolizes the axis-mundi that is believed to be the connection between heaven and earth. Therefore, the umbrella is thought to be a mobile temple. Since the umbrella is one of the main symbols in Buddhism, this object can be seen in various religious ceremonies yet its size, color, or material varies. I think the most interesting tradition including this object is the ritual of burning a red umbrella thirty-five days after a funeral.

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Umbrella | Sexual References

The interpretation of an umbrella as an erotic symbol dates back to Greco-Roman god Bacchus and his followers called bacchantes. Since Bacchus’s cult was mainly associated with pleasure, rave, and ecstasy, the usage of the umbrella in different occasions like festivals or events by cult members assigned an erotic meaning to that object. Later its associations were generally made with royalty and wealth and this aspect has been forgotten. After a long time has passed, the character named Henrietta Petowker in Nicholas Nickleby was portrayed as “[she] knows that she is admired at the theatre by the jauntily phallic appearance of a most preserving umbrella in the upper boxes” by Charles Dickens, while he was pointing out the erotic perception of the object. Sixty years later Freud explains the relationship of umbrellas with the unconscious as such “all elongated objects, sticks, tree-trunks, umbrellas (on account of the opening, which might be likened to an erection), all sharp and elonga...

Umbrella | Political References

The umbrella can protect people from various factors as well as the rain and sun. In 2014, umbrellas gained the mission of protecting the crowd from pepper spray and rubber bullets during the protests in Hong Kong regarding more transparent elections, which were later named “The Umbrella Movement”. The object, particularly the yellow ones, became a symbol for protests and in general used as a tool for passive resistance. In 2019, during the time of the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement again in Hong Kong, the object carried the importance of collective expression, privacy, and self-defense for protesters in the same manner yet umbrellas have been labeled as weapons by police forces so that the ordering of the object from e-commerce platforms like AliExpress was banned. Beyond being a symbol of resistance, umbrellas were used as camouflage to provide privacy for protesters, as a shield and defense mechanism for protection against police forces as the people from protests clai...

The Umbrella

The word umbrella derives from the Latin where “umbra” means shadow. Similarly, “para” defines shelter or shield, and “sol” means sun and they construct the word “parasol” which is used with the term umbrella interchangeably, yet parasols have a straight shaft different than the curved handle of the umbrella. As their etymological roots suggest, the primal intention of creating this object was the protection from exposure to the sun around four millennia before today. The early materials used in the construction were the tree leaves and branches until the invention of paper in China. The paper predecessors of this object later oiled since then the function of them have expanded from sunshade to protection from the rain even though they were not totally waterproof. These oil-paper parasols as well as dry, silk parasols made their way to Europe around Renaissance and became a fashionable trend amongst women. In 1708 The Kersey’s Dictionary defined the umbrella as “a scre...

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