Dear Orchidians, I have had an enquiry about removing a Jade bangle
from a female clients wrist. The bangle is solid Jade and can only be
broken off or cut off. The bangle will not come off over her hand. She
bought it while in Malaysia. They massaged her hand and wrist for
about an hour with oils and herbs and the bangle just slipped on.
This was about ten years ago.
She has been warned by Chinese friends not to take it off (bad luck
I suppose). Does anyone know the beliefs to this ritual. Or have any
philosophical answers to this lady’s predicament. Many thanks
BrianS
Brian, About the Jade bangle. The very ancient belief is that Jade
will protect you. The Jade will shatter before your health. I am now
wearing my second bangle, the first one did indeed shatter into three
pieces. I replaced it as quickly as I could, and have yet another one
in a drawer ready if necessary.
The method related, is indeed how the bangle is put on, and it is a
bit painful to say the least. The hand to the wrist is coated with
oil or soap, the thumb and portion below it is forcefully folded into
the palm with the little finger and below it then pinched on top of
the thumb part. The bangle is forced over this area until it slips
onto the wrist. I cannot see removing it easily.
If indeed she insists. slip a jewelers saw blade teeth face up
underneath the bangle, affix it into your jewelers saw and begin to
saw away. Her hand and arm are not in danger with the saw blade
facing away from the skin. It will take time and maybe a few saw
blades. Try to keep the wrist submerged while sawing, and good luck.
Why do I a westerner accept this belief? I was wearing a jade bangle
ring, I opened a spring loaded door with my hand holding the door.
The spring load forced the door strongly into the wall, my hand was
in jeopardy of being smashed. That small jade ring stopped the door
from slamming my hand into the wall, yes it did shatter, my hand did
not. Teresa
Hi Brian,
Has the customer’s arm grow fat? If not, you can just massage the
palm and then squeeze the palm together so that you eventually will
narrow the palm like a rolled piece of paper (length wise). You also
need to squeeze the the customer’s thump towards the inner palm.
After you have done that, apply oil to the palm. Slip the jade
bangle out gently, it is going to hurt when the bangle is near to the
larger width of the palm area. She is going to get hurt especially
this part and may have blue-black marks if the wrist is larger.
The other technique is use a plastic bag method. Use a small
plastic bag, cover the palm of the customer where the bangle that you
are taking it out. Once you have cover the palm with the plastic bag,
slip the front of the plastic bangle underneath the bangle. Slowly
move the bangle forward by slipping the bangle over the plastic bag.
It is the same with oil method but plastic bag can be quite easy.
Remember try to do this on a carpet floor, in case the bangle come
out, it will not break to piece when it hit the concrete floor.
There is nothing to worry about taking out the jade bangle. Believe
is believe and you can put the bangle back if she wants again.
Do take out the bangle with care, if it is broken after taking out,
you may have problem finding another similar bangle.
Regards,
Tay
Brian,
As I live in Singapore, I see the jade bangles all of the time and
was intrigued myself.
Yes, to the Chinese, it is indeed bad luck to remove the bracelet,
that is unless you have grown and intend to put a bigger one on in
it’s place, as is the case when children grow.
If your customer is Chinese and follows her culture strictly, than
it shouldn’t be removed. But if she purchased it as a novelty (I’m
not saying that in a bad way) than there should be no problem for
her to have it sawed off.
For anyone other than someone of Chinese heritage, I suppose it is
truly a matter of how superstitious they are.
If you want any further info I would be happy to speak to some of my
friends here and get the COMPLETE scoop.
Cheers- Carree
So – now you’ve got me curious – why does it have to be a bangle?
and why does it have to be such a tight fit? Why would a cuff
bracelet not work?
Margaret
One other thought about the jade bangle… I assume it is valuable.
If it is, and the lady has become heavy or for some other reason is
not a good candidate for just reversing the original process… I
know that when, for example, a frat prank results in some poor kid
with a billiard ball stuck in his mouth, the solution is to
anaesthetize the area. This really relaxes the muscles, so the
hand, in this case, could be compressed much more easily and
painlessly. I don’t know whether ice would do it–you’d probably
need an understanding doctor. HTH --Noel