Several years ago, I wrote an article on Gifts to avoid buying for Chinese People and one of the items is an umbrella. Now I would like to expand on the Chinese superstitions regarding the umbrella taboo in our Chinese culture. In the feng shui study, they believe that used correctly, an umbrella will bring you luck and wealth. However, if you use it wrongly, it will bring you misfortune. Do you believe it?
I am a big fan of Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories podcast (Singapore Radio Station Love 97.2fm) and have mentioned/quoted their stories in my own ghost stories or on my Chinese superstitions blog posts. Anyway, in many of their stories, they often mention ghostly encounters that featured an umbrella, which I explore more below.
The History of the Umbrella
In ancient China, an umbrella is seen as a symbol of status and power as only the emperor would own one. According to legend, their umbrella/parasol is made from angel wings to protect them from rain or shine and it is able to give out auspicious power to the emperor. As time passed by, besides the emperor, many rich noble persons were able to own silk-made umbrellas as it was very expensive. Today, an umbrella has become a common household tool to protect us from the wind, rain and the sun.
How do you pronounce umbrella in Mandarin?
The Chinese pronunciation for umbrella is 伞 Sǎn, which sounds like split/scattered 散 Sàn. Hence it is not an auspicious word for any good occasion. This is why you should not gift anyone an umbrella, especially your loved ones. The Chinese believe it will end the relationship.
Is an umbrella considered ‘yin’?
As we know, an umbrella is used to shield us from rain, hence the surfaces of the umbrella will get wet when it rains and the moisture will attract yin (which is equal to ghost/spirit). Hence, for people who believe in superstitions, they tend not to keep umbrellas at home.
Another use of an umbrella is to shield us from the sun. For example, in some Traditional Chinese funerals, many of the deceased’s relatives are often seen carrying a black colour umbrella over the deceased’s photo on the day of the funeral to the temple. The umbrella will shield the ghost/spirit inside the umbrella and bring them to their final resting place as the sun is too yang (harmful to the ghost/spirit, just like for a vampire).
If you want to keep an umbrella, do you know which one should you choose?
When choosing an umbrella, you should avoid transparent umbrellas. Using a transparent umbrella might not directly cause you any misfortune, but it definitely won’t bring any good fortune to you. Hence, there is no point in having one.
A red umbrella is also a no-no. In Chinese culture, red is auspicious, but it also means danger to some. A bright red coloured umbrella is quite an eye sore, when it is used in the rain, the rainwater will dull the umbrella, hence the wealth is depleted for the person. I do know that during my sister’s wedding, they used a red umbrella to shield her when she was going into the bridal car. According to my mum, the red umbrella is used to ward off evil spirits or bad omens. The red umbrella was then left outside the house. If the red umbrella was brought into the house, the wealth would be depleted.
A yellow colour umbrella is great to bring wealth and good luck as they symbolise gold. The reflection of yellow will shine onto the person like sparkling gold and fill you with happiness. A blue colour umbrella is also great to own. Although a blue colour umbrella does not have the sunshine effect when it is in use in the rain, the umbrella will reflect rainbow lights onto the person and it will bring good luck and wealth.
True Ghost Stories:
According to the old wives’ tales, for ghosts to move around during the daylight, they would hide inside the umbrella. This is why we should never bring our umbrellas inside our homes. This story was broadcast via Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories podcast on 4th March 2022, which was told by Mr Zhou himself. This story came from one of the directors he worked with, who has a family living in Penang, Malaysia. It happened in his family’s shophouse. In Penang, the shophouses are normally quite narrow, the front of the shophouse is their front shop, they then have an air well in the middle of the house, followed by the kitchen and toilet at the back. The top floor is for bedrooms.
The director’s relatives like to invite close relatives to their house to play mahjong in the air well area. Soon, their relatives started inviting their friends to come along to play mahjong as the air well area was very spacious to fit a lot of mahjong tables. As many people came, some ladies liked to bring their umbrellas into the shophouse, which they used to block the hot sun or shelter from the rain. They would then leave their umbrella opened up to dry in the air well area or inside the house.
Soon after, one by one, the family members would sit at the air well wall looking inside the well at around 2 to 3 am. Sometimes their family members would just stare blankly at the well. Each time, they woke up the person, the person had no awareness of why they were there. They all found it very strange but didn’t make the connection to ghosts. It wasn’t until they realised that the floor around the well started to have a lot of white spots and the air well was no longer feeling bright. It was very cloudy and the environment was filled with dampness. They then hired a feng shui master, who told them that each white spot was a ghost. They had to spend a long time digging out each white spot. Each time the white spot was dug out, it revealed a person’s face. It took them a long time to deal with it as there were over a hundred white spots on the floor.
The master then told them the ghosts followed them into the shophouses via the umbrella. To solve the problem, he advised them never to bring an umbrella into the house and to leave them outside their house. Also, don’t invite so many random people into their family home.
The following is another story from Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories podcast. Mr Zhou’s Malay colleague also encountered the same problem. She was told by a feng shui master that the family of four ghosts that was hiding inside her toilet, came through her umbrella when she went shopping.
Another umbrella taboo is to never open an umbrella indoors as it will deplete wealth and split the family (散财散家 Sàn Cái Sàn Jiā). In fact, some British people also believe that opening an umbrella indoors is considered bad luck.
The next story was broadcast via Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories on 14th January 2022 and told by their guest Vivi. This happened in March 2021. Vivi was about to move to a new office location and she want to clear her stocks as much as possible. By doing so, she was selling all of the items as cheaply as possible, and one of the items was an umbrella. When she was on Facebook Live, she wanted to create a fun and playful atmosphere by opening the umbrella while dancing to the background music ‘One Small Umbrella’ played on her mobile phone.
For your information, the original One Small Umbrella (Hokkien dialect: Ji Ki Sio Hor Sua, Chinese: 一支小雨伞 ) is a Hokkien song sung by Taiwanese pop singer Chris Hung 洪榮宏 in 1982. It was a very old song! My mother’s generation type of music!
She then opened the umbrella while performing with the background music hoping it will boost the sales, but many of her audience told her not to open the umbrella indoors as it will offend the ghost. She told them that there was no such thing and she didn’t believe in ghosts. She quickly dismissed it and said it was total nonsense! Her background music then stopped as someone called her WhatsApp via her mobile phone while she was live. She answered the call, and on the other side, the ‘person’ kept saying he was in pain repeatedly. She told the ‘person’ please don’t call as she was doing Facebook Live and then hung up.
Many of her audience commented that due to her behaviour, this ‘thing’ happened. She shrugged it off. The same number phoned again! This time, the ‘person’ kept saying he is in pain and told her his name. She then felt very uncomfortable, ignored it and proceeded with her Facebook Live. She then showed her audience the phone call with the person’s picture and told him not to call again. She complains to him that no one will buy the umbrella if he keeps pranking her. She then asks him if he wants her to leave the umbrella in her old office for him to keep. She then hung up. Suddenly, the crucifix, which was hung up behind her, fell off the wall.
The next day, she asked her husband to call back the same number. He then used his mobile phone to phone but no one answered. Then 30 minutes later, the same number phoned back to her husband’s phone. But there was no sound from the other end. Then another 30 minutes later, the same number phoned her mobile phone. Anyway, she asked her friends to call, but on the other end of the call were different people’s voices.
To solve the problem, she asked her feng shui master to help her. The umbrella was then burnt and they also did the praying ceremony. Her feng shui master told her after reviewing her Facebook Live video, she did offend ‘them’ and they were seeking to punish her behaviour.
Want to listen to more ghost stories about umbrella? pop over to Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories podcast on 28th June 2019, listen to the story told by Nana and Mr Zhou! Also on 15th April 2022 podcast.
Places to avoid hanging your umbrella
As I mentioned above we should never bring an umbrella indoors. If you want to bring it indoors, you should not place it in the living room. A living room is a gathering place where you welcome your family members or guests. The umbrella will split the family bond or end the relationship.
It should not be placed inside the bedroom either. A bedroom is a place for resting. Feng shui studies believe that an umbrella is yin and it will bring imbalance into your room. It will cause you sleepless nights and ruin your health.
Another place to avoid is in front or behind your front door, whether it is wet or dry. According to feng shui studies, it is believed it will cause harm to the owner’s relationship, wealth and job if placed there. Your front door is one of the most important areas of your home as it represents the face you show to the world. Whether to have an umbrella hang outside or inside the house, it does not have an auspicious sign – 散 Sàn (split).
Next, avoid placing the umbrella next to a window. A window is an area where the energy can flow in and out. As an umbrella is considered yin, it will bring harmful bad air into and around the house.
Never place/hang the umbrella on the wall. It will cause the wall structure to crumble from moisture from the wet umbrella. It will bring bad feng shui energy to the whole structure of your house feng shui.
So where to place your umbrella?
An umbrella should be placed in an area where it cannot be seen. Keep it out of sight once it is dry in your garden or balcony. In Singapore, my mum’s HDB flat has a small side cupboard that is away from her front door, where she places her umbrella. It was far away from her front door and it is not inside the house. I keep my umbrella inside my porch away from the front door. So how do you keep your umbrella?
Do you know that some people will buy a new umbrella before going into a hotel? They will then open the new umbrella inside the hotel room, close it and leave it outside the hotel room’s door. When they finished their stay, they will open the umbrella to release the ghost back inside the room, before throwing the umbrella away. Check out my blog post on hotel superstition to learn more about it!