Why are blacksmiths so stigmatized in folklore? What about the profession gave them such a bad name and caused them to be closely associated with the Devil?
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/039219216801606202 Maybe because traditional smelting techniques involve, human sacrifice? Allegedly?? Or maybe “Molten metal that flows is associated with flowing blood because
of its color, heat and the danger that arises from it”
Those who are only slightly familiar with anthropology are aware
of the many explanations that have been proposed to account for the “blacksmith complex". He is impure because he is in contact
with iron (a loathsome and repulsive element), or with fire (from
which demons are born), or because he forges murderous weapons; or because he is endogamous, or is not independent, or because
blacksmiths are the dregs of conquered peoples, do not produce
their own food, do not go to war, and break some unknown divine
interdict. They are respected because they have dared to break
a divine interdict, because they make useful instruments, because
they are rich, because they are initiators, educators, religious chiefs,
peace-makers, sacrificers, civilising heroes, and even, according to
the embryological theory of M. Eliade, because they help the Earth
to give birth to minerals and in so doing are a substitute for Time etc. Their powers issue from their tools, from spirits hidden in
the bellows of their smithies, from fire, from the “numinous” force
of iron, from the ornaments they forge for shamans; or from the
celestial origins of their techniques, from their novelty, from the
fact that these secret techniques are hereditary, or simply because
they are in their possession; or again from the “ambivalent magic
of weapons made of stone,” which, by emitting sparks when
struck, are likened to lightning, a magic that is transmitted into
the metal; or from the fact that they forge flashes of lightning
for the gods, etc…
One can see that, even when they contain elements of truth,
all these explanations are one-sided and often in need to be
explained themselves. The only valid explanation is one that can
show the inner reason for the different manifestations of the
“blacksmith complex” and their coexistence, and attain to the
structure that determines their interconnection and renders them
interdependent.
An interpretation that coordinates the various elements of the
problem, on the basis of the blacksmith’s violation of taboo, should
satisfy these conditions. It would form part of a wider interpretation
of magical violations of taboo in general, based on an
analysis of the nature and function of taboos.
I realize this is a cast iron gate but I’m choosing to believe it’s a magic protection ritual
It IS a magic protection ritual, and it summons an iron gate to protect you from intruders.
You have to enchant the iron so it protects against the fae.
This would work great in a visualization during the creation of wards, or protection magic.
i am so tempted to give people unsolicited metallurgy lesson
counter point, please give me metallurgy lessons?
im going to hazzard that either this isnt actually ‘iron’ iron, or if it is this will be one brittle fence
as theyre pouring it as a liquid and its actually -flowing- iron would have to be around 3,000 degrees F, or around 1,600 C. normal ‘cast iron’ is rather brittle, which is why most iron fences were ‘wrought iron’ as in they were extruded and hammered into bars and then hammered into shape.
the way to counter this would be to anneal it by only allowing the temperature to lower slowly over the course of, say for something this size, about three days. i can asess this isnt the case as live humans are present so the temperature of the room as a whole has to be somewhere below the boiling point
these two points are dude to the nature of iron- as all metals it has a crystal latice structure when solid, which gives metal their strength, however moreso then other metals iron and iron based alloys have a wildly different crystal structure and grain size (yes, grain like the grain of wood) which relies on things like max temperature, the rate of cooling, alloy metals, pressure, and so fourth. knowing the hundred bullshit ways to screw with the grain is how we do absolutely bonkers stuff with ferrous compounds
consider history- there was the stone age, the bronze age, and then the iron age. iron is the fourth most common metal on earth (any more common metals were not usable untill the electric arc furnace, such as alluminum) whereas copper is the 26th most common- therefore why was the bronze age before the iron age? because iron was extremely difficult to turn into a usable metal until the development of far better furnaces just to get it red hot and kinda soft, known as ‘bloomery iron’ or ‘tamahaganae’ if you live in japan- iron so impure you have to hammer it for days to remove all the residual crap that was still in the sponge of hot metal.
you may notice in this diagram your iron basically sits dirrectly on top of the charcoal for most of the history of iron, and ‘sponge is the right word.
after much development of bloomery furnaces a hotter method was invented
to make ‘pig iron’; reaching an almost liquid state where it could be
poured into bar molds like honey.
this was not exactly easy as anyone who has seen princess mononoke knows, and still the iron was fairly shit although vastly superior to the bloomery process. only small ammounts could be produced and what you did make was expensive due to the process. in greece for example during the afforementioned ‘bronze age’ iron tools existed, but were considered too valuable to use for weapons or armor which would be broken, lost, or siezed by an enemy. theyd rather make saws and chisels which could be handed down for several generations with what was to them a legendary metal. it wasnt untill the development of the blast furnace where heat retention and bellows were upgraded to actually create fully liquid iron for the first time- iron being fully liquid allows all the impurities stated before to just float off as a surface skum instead of having to be hammered out
this is where we have what we today would actually call ‘iron’ yet it still being unusable in its present form- it would produce fairly brittle bars of mostly pure Fe, with a crystal structure similar to that of a distressed saltine cracker.
because liquid iron that was cooled to room temperature, which is why shit like this in movies
looks fucking cool but would result in a sword that would snap in half when you swing it. not even wait till you hit something, it would snap in midair
and thats currently where the above fence would be- fully liquid cast iron cooled quickly enough it becomes a brittle crystal, you could snap bits off by hitting it with a baseball bat.
ive actually seen people do things like this and it had been an issue for a LONG time that many things were made of cast iron because it was the only way to make things of a certain size and shape, but they broke very easily- for example cast iron ploughs, which would crack when farmers hit a largish stone and then you had to drag your plough to a blacksmith. by replacing a fully cast iron plough with a plough that if the cast iron cracked you could remove and replace that part with a new one, and have the far smaller one repaired while you went back to work
earlier i used the word ‘anneal’, one of the ‘hundred ways to bullshit
with iron’ i mentioned, where by raising the irons temperature and then
cooling it very sloooowly the crystal structure is very minimal,
resulting in a soft metal that is far more impact resistant. which COULD
be an option, provided they lower they temperature of that metal by
less then a hundred degrees every 2-3 hours. typically annealing is done
by just leaving a metal item IN the furnace but turning the heat off
and then going home for the weekend. even leaving the furnace door open
would be cooling too quickly. again im going to say this is not what
theyre doing as live human beings are present so during the gif alone
the temperature fo that metal has dropped at least 500 degrees
so how do you make iron that isnt brittle? you do this
all the earlier ‘impurities’ talk- the sparks flying are the impurities leaving the metal, this his how before actually properly smelted pure iron you actually got to make a usable tool. hammering the still hot metal also changes how the metal is formed on the inside, no not by folding but simply by adding pressure to squeeze everything into alginment. but we today dont have a whole lot of blacksmits because weve instead changed to putting the metal through satans own playdough machine
no, wait, not enough satan
THERE we go
so now with our knowlege of infernal devices just spitting out refined metal, and by quality control of knowing what goes in we can do some dark wizardy in alloy production that would require me a week, overhead projector, and assorted test samples to demonstrate why i have to specifically use the word ‘bullshit’ for what you can do with iron.
how ive seen wrought iron fences made- you aquire some of the iron billets produced by the machinery, cut them to lengths, heat untill glowing, and make like a fire god shaping hard candy. theres even tools specifically for this
it is however entirely possible that the fence they poured wasnt made out of actual iron (or is but it is in fact stupid brittle), or perhaps some alloy that will not become brittile or explode by doing it that way. im leaning more towards this but then it raises more questions as to what material they chose. if i could see the finished product i could probably answer that, but at that point you could just ask someone what they did
So I was out to eat and this child(maybe 3 years old) in the booth next to us started crying loudly. The mom tried to calm him down but he started to go into tantrum mode and fussed even more. So she picked him up and walked out of the restaurant to a bench outside our window. We could hear her ask him, “look at me, what’s upsetting you?” To which he responded with more crying. So she says, “Well you’re clearly overwhelmed, so we’re going to sit out here and take a break until you can compose yourself and tell me what’s wrong.” Which is exactly what happened after a couple minutes. Anyways I just think it’s so good to speak to your children in a logical, respectful manner instead of shushing them and leaving them to deal with their stress alone.
this is such a surreal way to calm a child down like is a three year old really going to understand you like that ….
Yes, if it’s what they’re used to. It has to be consistent though, you can’t, like, suddenly start doing it one day and expect them to understand.
It also helps if you kind of narrate your own emotions when you’re upset even just over little things, like ‘oh! I just can’t get this to lay flat, but I really want to! I got mad because I couldn’t get it to work, and that’s frustrating!’
It feels silly at first, but it models it for them and helps them understand how to communicate (and recognize) their own emotions.
I think I reblogged the original post before, but I love and appreciate the further explanation. All in all this is a great practice, but some parents either don’t do it consistently, or aren’t taking in other factors (like, can your child process your words right now? Sometimes they can’t because EMOTIONS!) OR they do this without removing them from the stressor/stressful situation, and then their kid is overwhelmed and has no idea what their parent is saying to them. You need to look at your kid and make sure they’re taking in your words, and also not expect them to respond like an adult would.
You can also easily simplify the language, to something like “Hey what’s going on?” or “let’s get some space”/”I’m going to give you space” or “let’s take a break and take some deep breaths”
I’ve seen parents who just totally take this and start speaking to their children in ways that their child legitimately cannot understand, not necessarily because of their age, but because they have no context, or are too overwhelmed by outside factors, OR because their parents are expecting them to process words they’re not used to (consistency and modeling are key) and then demanding an adult response. That’s stressful. Using this kind of language with kids is GREAT to get your kids more in touch with their emotions and actions, but it’s important that you’re doing it correctly, paying attention to how your child responds, and providing them with a model in your own actions and interactions.
I work in education and how that parent in the first post helped their child calm down is exactly what we do when I work in preK through 1st grade classrooms.
I also do this with my own children and it ‘s incredibly helpful. Small children are able to tell you what’s wrong and tell you how they feel if they’re given the tools to do so.
Common mistakes parents make:
-Assuming this will work right away. It won’t. It takes time for kids to get used to this. Parents/families need to use this frequently, consistently, and using language children can understand.
-By not staying calm themselves. This will not work if you let your own emotions/frustrations get in the way. When this happens frustrated parents want the kids to ‘hurry up and tell them what’s wrong’. Kids can tell you’re upset/frustrated/impatient. This can make things worse. You as a parent/caregiver need to remain calm as well.
-Use language that the child doesn’t understand (as Enog mentioned above). Use language that your child CAN understand. A big thing you need to do even when your child isn’t upset is to identify feelings. Do this all the time. When a child can’t identify emotions, they have a hard time dealing with them. Use accessible language and model identifying as well as healthy ways to deal with various emotions.
-Failing to remove the child from a stressful situation. This is a VERY COMMON mistake parents and caregivers make. Young children in particular have a hard time focusing/calming down when overwhelmed. Some parents/caregivers expect the child to calm down while overwhelmed get frustrated with the child when this method doesn’t work. Be sure to remove your child from the stressful situation or stimulus before asking them to tell you what is wrong.
Many people won’t get it right the first time. Recognizing the frequent mistakes above will help parents/caregivers from making these errors.
My mom was also taught in my brothers daycare that you can start communicating with kids under 4 to get them used to communicating and to try and make the world seem less chaotic. They would tell the kids if they were going to stop playing in 10 minutes or change their diapers or eat or whatever. And as strange as it sounds that toddlers actually became less fussy and it really made the parents start paying attention to their kids and making sure that they were communicating. I’ve seen so many young kids have a tantrum because their parent just picks them up from playing and takes them instead of giving them a five or ten minute warning that might have made it so there was no problem at all. I’m sure it would set them up for everything mentioned in this post. I hate people that act like you shouldn’t communicate with kids or try and help them understand what’s going on around them, I just always think of how overwhelming and scary being a kid, and especially a very young child, can be.
^Important. 😀
Omg it’s so important to talk to kids about what’s going on even if they’re newborns and you think they can’t understand, at some point (long before they can talk themselves) they do and they learn that their feelings, needs and boundaries matter, that they’re people not objects to be moved about and acted upon
Research shows babies understand the gist of what parents are saying as early as six months. Explaining things to babies and toddlers like they’re real people who can understand you (which they are) is incredibly powerful and good for their brain and social development! For example, I was recently hanging out with parents who are really good at this. The one year old was fussing as my friend tried to get him to eat, and so she communicated everything she was doing with him. “I see that you don’t want the apple sauce right now. Is your tummy full? Let’s try the noodles. No, I can see you’re making a face, so I don’t think you want those. How about your bottle?” Etc. This starts an early precedent of clear communication and showing that you care and understand a child’s needs. Even when I was saying goodbye to the family, that kiddo clearly had no idea what was going on, and mom still made a point to say, “Sequoia is going home now, so we say goodbye. Bye Sequoia!” instead of saying bye without involving him.
See, the problem with people who aren’t in wheelchairs writing about and/or drawing people who are in (manual) wheelchairs is that the people who aren’t in wheelchairs tend to think that there’s only like four movements that you do in a wheelchair. You can either push forward, push backwards, turn left, or turn right. And the characters do it all while sitting up straight or bending forward so that their noses touch their knees.
But the amount of motions that I go through on a daily basis are actually amazing. And the body language…you could write an entire book on the body language of someone in a wheelchair.
Like right now, I’m more relaxed, so I’m slouching slightly. I’ve got my right foot on its footrest and the left foot on the ground. Every so often, as I stop to think of something to say, I’ll push with my left foot to rock the chair slightly.
But usually, I sit mostly upright with my upper-half slightly leaned forward. When I’m wheeling across the campus, especially if I have somewhere that I need to be, I’ll lean and shift my weight in whichever direction it is that I’m going. It helps make the wheelchair glide that much more smoothly. How far/dramatically I lean depends on how fast I’m going, the terrain, if there’s a turn, etc.
Plus people who don’t use wheelchairs don’t understand the relationship between grabbing the wheels, pushing, and the chair moving. Like I’ve seen things written or have seen people try to use a chair where the character/that person grabs the wheel every single second and never lets go to save their lives. Which isn’t right. The key is to do long, strong, pushes that allow you to move several feet before repeating. I can usually get about ten feet in before I have to push again. It’s kind of like riding a scooter. You don’t always need to push. You push, then ride, then push, then ride, etc.
And because of this, despite what many people think, people in wheelchairs can actually multitask. I’ve carried Starbucks drinks across the campus without spilling a single drop. Because it’s possible to wheel one-handed (despite what most people think), especially when you shift your weight. And if I need to alternate between pushing both wheels, I’ll just swap hands during the ‘glide’ time.
I’ve also noticed that people who don’t use wheelchairs, for some reason, have no idea how to turn a wheelchair. It’s the funniest thing. Like I see it written or, again, have seen people ‘try’ a wheelchair where they’re reaching across their bodies to try to grab one wheel and push or they try to push both wheels at the same time and don’t understand. (For the record, you pull back a wheel and push a wheel. The direction that you’re going is the side that you pull back.)
Back to body language. Again, no idea why most people think that we always sit upright and nothing else. Maybe when I’m in meetings or other formal settings, but most of the time, I do slightly slouch/lean. As for the hands…A lot of writers put the wheelchair user’s hands on the armrests but the truth is, most armrests sit too far back to actually put your hands on. There are times when I’ll put my elbows on the edges of the armrests and will put my hands between my legs. Note: Not on my lap. That’s another thing that writers do but putting your hands in your lap is actually not a natural thing to do when you’re in a wheelchair, due to the angle that you’re sitting and the armrests. Most of the time, I’ll just sort of let my arms loosely fall on either side of the chair, so that my hands are next to my wheels but not grabbing them. That’s another form of body language. I’ve talked to a few people who have done it and I do it myself. If I’m ever anxious or in a situation where I want to leave for one reason or another, I will usually grip my handrims – one hand near the front , one hand near the back. And if I’m really nervous, you’ll find me leaning further and further into the chair, running my hands along the handrims.
Also, on a related subject – a character’s legs should usually be at 90 degree angles, the cushion should come to about their knees, and the armrests should come to about their elbows. You can always tell that an actor is not a wheelchair user when their wheelchair isn’t designed to their dimensions. (Their knees are usually inches away from the seats and are up at an angle, the armrests are too high, etc.) Plus they don’t know how to drive the chair.
Let’s see, what else? Only certain bags can go on the back of the chair without scraping against the wheels, so, no, your teenagers in wheelchairs can’t put their big, stylish, purses on the back. We don’t always use gloves since most gloves actually aren’t that helpful (as stated above, wheeling is a very fluid motion and gloves tend to constrict movements). Height differences are always a thing to remember. If you’re going for the “oh no, my wheelchair is broken” trope, nobody really has ‘flat’ tires anymore thanks to the new material for the wheels but it is possible to have things break off. We use the environment a lot. I always push off of walls or grab onto corners or kick off of the floor etc. Wheelchair parkour should really become a thing.
This is all of the physical things to think about. I could write a thesis on the emotional treatment of your characters with disabilities. But for now, I think that I’ll stop here. For my followers in wheelchairs, is there anything that I left out?
Also why isn’t wheelchair parkour a thing? Somebody make wheelchair parkour a thing.
This is all REALLY GOOD and I wish something like this would be in more art guidebooks and classes.
One thing I’d add is that some of the posture stuff here is specific to wheelchair users who have the right chair; a lot of people (hi, past me) have to use chairs that aren’t at all the correct size, and that’s going to change posture, ease of use, etc. That’s such a broad variable that it’s probably useless to try and cover here, but it’s something to be aware of and research if it seems relevant to a character.
Reblogging AGAIN because it is really useful and I haven’t done so in a long while
(Plus someone reminded me about this post)
Last time had added the 3 Batgirls to the list. Which was a PAIN to compile the info for. Anno can vouch for that. Now there are a few extras at the end.
A reminder that this list is for PRE-REBOOT and is not at all canon for the New 52, which isn’t surprising since everyone’s height varies so extremely between artists these days.
-x-x-x-
No one seems to really realize all of this unless they look it up all at once, but the size differences between the members of the Bat-family are very surprising.
~~~ PRE-REBOOT ~~~
Bruce Wayne/Batman: 6’ 2”, 210lbs and no one knows what his age is supposed to be anymore. Birthday: February 19th
Dick Grayson/Nightwing: 5’ 10”, 175lbs, and is roughly 25 years old now. Birthday: March 21st
Jason Todd/Red Hood: 6’ 0”, 225lbs, and is roughly 19 years old now. Birthday: August 16th
Tim Drake/Red Robin: 5’ 5” 125lbs, and is roughly 17 years old now. Birthday: July 19th
Damian Wayne/Robin: (4’ 6” / 84lbs) – (5’ 2” / 120lbs) – (5’ 4” / 140lbs), height & weight varies by artist, appearance since creation, and info source. He is roughly 10-11 years old now. Birthday: ???
Barbara Gordon/Batgirl: 5’ 7” 126lbs, and is VERY roughly between Dick and Bruce’s age. Her age was retconned so many times it’s impossible to get an exact age. However, until it became officially inappropriate for underage relationships in recent years, Babs was always quite a few years older than Dick. Birthday: September 23 (according to an OLD DC calender)
Cassandra Cain/Batgirl: 5’ 5” 127lbs, and is roughly 19 years old. Birthday: January 26th (celebrated)
Stephanie Brown/Batgirl: 5’ 5” 129lbs, and is roughly 18-19 years old. Birthday: August 11th (comic first appearance)
The ages/weights/heights are the proper ages according to several official DC reference pages/books prior to the reboot. Who knows what they are after really. I’m not sure DC really knows either. Every time I post this someone pops in to dispute it, but I’m only going off of what DC has officially said even if it doesn’t always make sense. We can all say DC has screwed up plenty over the years.
EXTRAS:
Alfred Pennyworth: 5’ 10” 160lbs
Talia al Ghul:5’ 8” 141lbs (comics) and 5’ 6” (BtAS)
Selina Kyle:5’ 7” 133lbs (comics) and 5’ 6” (BtAS)
James (Jim) Gordon: 6’ 0" 168lbs
Prudence Wood: taller than both Tim and Steph but shorter than Dick, putting her at roughly 5’6”- 5’9”
Tam Fox: Noticeably shorter than Tim, Steph, and Vicki Vale so likely around 5’3”
Sasha (Scarlet): Noticeably about a head shorter than Jason but a bit taller than Damian, so she is in the range of 5’6”
Conclusion?
-Tim is tiny as all hell, and needs to eat. He really is the ‘Baby Bird’. Tim is officially SEVEN inches shorter than Jason, and 100lbs lighter. Both Steph and Cass are his height but weigh more, even if only by a touch.
-Jason is actually taller than Dick, and heavier than Bruce.
-Damian is going to be built like a damned linebacker, and will probably be larger than Bruce in height AND weight. He is only an inch shorter than Tim and is 15lbs heavier, while being 6 years younger. (if of course going off his larger size range I initially recorded last year, and also believable by FutureBatDamian’s size)
James (Jim) Gordon: 6’ 0" 168lbs
reblogging this largely for me to use as a reference.
230 miles on roads 11 days on foot | 7 ½ days forced march | 6 days on horseback | 4 days fast carriage | 3 days horse relay
lothering to ostagar : red
80 miles on the imperial hwy 4 days on foot | 2 ½ days forced march | 2 days on horseback | 1 day horse relay
lothering to redcliffe : purple
105 miles on roads 5 days on foot | 3 ½ days forced march | 2 ½ days on horseback | 2 days fast carriage | 1 ½ days horse relay
lothering to kinloch hold : light blue
195 miles on roads 10 days on foot | 6 ½ days forced march | 5 days on horseback | 3 days fast carriage | 2 ½ days horse relay + 11 miles in a boat 3 hours rowing
redcliffe to gherlen’s pass : dark green
160 miles on mountainous roads 16 days on foot | 8 days on horseback | 6 days fast carriage | 4 days horse relay
denerim to soldier’s peak : light green
100 miles on the pilgrim’s path 5 days on foot | 3 ½ days forced march | 2 ½ days on horseback | 1 ½ days fast carriage | 1 day horse relay + 20 miles on mountainous roads 2 days on foot | 1 day on horseback | ½ day horse relay
lothering to the dalish camp : orange + dark blue
80 miles on roads 4 days on foot | 2 ½ days forced march | 2 days on horseback | 1 ½ days fast carriage | 1 day horse relay + 40 miles off road 5 days on foot | 2 days on horseback
redcliffe to honnleath : yellow
35 miles on hilly roads 2 ½ days on foot | 1 ½ days forced march | 1 day on horseback | ½ day horse relay
redcliffe to haven : dark green + pink
100 miles on mountainous roads 11 days on foot | 5 days on horseback | 2 ½ days horse relay + 20 miles off road 3 days on foot | 2 days on horseback
Reblob for the fanfic writers who like to keep things congruent with canon.
Amigurumi Tips and Tricks : Simple Embroidered Nose
Kristi shares a great little technique for embroidering noses on little crocheted creatures. She says the following about her tutorial (with video):
When working with bumpy crochet surface, I think it’s best to keep things simple. In this post I will show you how I usually embroider noses on my teddy bears, cats and bunnies – it’s very quick and easy and as long as you keep your stitches straight, it’s going to look great.
fun fact! google image search allows you to search for images that you are legally allowed to use for example as textures for your art or as assets for your blogs and websites
I keep forgetting that not everyone knows about this.
Okay, I fully understand everyone’s excitement over the ring-exchange and engagement, but please don’t mock or dismiss Yuuri calling it a “lucky charm”.
Not only were those his honest and sincere feelings, but omamori are more than mere “lucky charms”, they’re a huge part of Japanese culture, and Japanese religion, with very profound meaning, so mocking that is actually incredibly rude, and highly culturally insensitive.
Traditionally, Japanese omamori look like this
and can be bought at most shrines and temples in Japan. I’d actually say they’re closer to “prayers” than “lucky charms”, really, in their intent, though that doesn’t quite fit, either. But when you know that the most common omamori are for things like safety in traffic, doing well in school, having romantic encounters, and fertility/safely born children (used both by couples who want kids, and expecting mothers hoping for no complications with their pregnancy), you probably see what I mean.
The word omamori translates roughly to protector/protection/protective charm, and are based on the animistic Shinto world view. The ones you get at shrines are part supplication that the enshrined deity will bless and protect you, and part a… hmm, almost a signal beacon? so said deity can find you, to know that you’re someone under their protection. And also part comfort for the carrier, that they’re not alone, that they’ve got someone on their side.
But it’s not just “official” deities that are considered to have protective powers. Your ancestors are also seen sort of as guardian spirits protecting their family line (common theme in East Asian religions – Mulan, anyone? – at least, and I think also in all animistic religions, though that’s not my area of expertise), and even such ambiguous things as strong emotions are seen to have protective and blessing properties, especially love and affection.
For this reason, a lot of people will use mementos or objects of sentimental value as omamori. Either because it reminds them of a particular person or situation or emotion, or because they see some kind of link between that particular object and whatever they seek blessings for/protection against.
The important part for Yuuri, and why he bought that ring, is less that it’s a wedding ring, and more that it’s a gold ring. Yes, emphasis on both gold and ring.
The gold part is obvious, because the blessing he wants is help in getting a gold medal. It’s a resonance/like-brings-like thing.
The ring part is more obscure, but I’ll try to explain it.
One of the most basic and important parts of Japanese culture and society is the idea of 縁 (en). If you look it up in a Japanese-English dictionary, you get words like fate, destiny, chance, a relationship, a connection, a bond, an affinity, and while those are all ways to translate the word, depending on context, they don’t really explain the concept. En is the meeting of two or more things/beings that leaves a lasting connection or bond.
You might say you don’t have en with money to indicate that you can never seem to amass any wealth. It’s less you’ve got no luck with money, but more that you and money were never meant to be. You might earn it, but it still doesn’t stick around, somehow. An omamori for romance is called an enmusubi, or a “tier of en/bonds”, in this case referring to interpersonal relationships.
If you’re saying goodbye to someone you don’t know whether you’ll ever see again, you might express a wish that you’ll have en, and be able to meet again.
Now, I’ve mentioned in previous posts that the Japanese love homonyms and word associations. This is even more true for en, because it’s so important to them. Like in the example of a farewell, you might give someone a five yen coin, because five yen is go-en (五円), and when speaking of en with an honorific, that’s also go-en (ご縁). It’s a physical manifestation of your wish to have en with them. This is also why five yen coins are generally considered the best coins to give as offerings when you pray for something, despite their low value, because it indicates a hope for en with your wish.
Okay, getting to the point now: Another homonym (well, technically the same one, but different usage) for en is the word for circle or round. And because that’s basically what a ring is, rings are often used as a metaphor for, or an expression of a wish for en. So rings generally have a more profound level of meaning in Japanese.
It’s a gold ring because Yuuri wishes to have en with gold medals. He gives it to Victor because he wishes to have en with him.
He spent the whole day looking for something. He said he’d desperately wanted an omamori for a long time. He’s embarrassed, because yes, it’s a goddamn wedding ring, and he’s very aware of that, and giving rings to someone, period, is not something a Japanese person does lightly. It’s a very meaningful act, and this omamori is very important to Yuuri, so going “lol, lucky charm, yeah right” is incredibly disrespectful.
blackash26 