Above photo was on Sunday Selfies yesterday and Tigger asked what is the thing hanging from the lady's waist? It is a Vintage Wicker Fan you can see them HERE
For all of my life, and I have lived almost 8 decades, the church pews had handheld cardboard fans on a stick. Above is one from Etsy HERE I chose this one because most of the fans had advertising on the back. A large percentage were funeral homes. Some were local bank
In the deep South, Before Air Conditioning, the windows were open and zero air came in. It was Hot, Services Were LONG and drawn out. My dad was a Baptist preacher. When my brother and I would complain about his sermons being too long, he would tell my brother, when I get too long, hold your hand up and I will stop.
HA! Never happened. No matter how hard my brother waved his little arm. All we could do was FAN ourselves.
I can still see mothers fanning their small children and babies. We used the church bulletin also as a fan. And most of the ladies had a folding one in their purse.
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| You can buy this one Here |
The above fan the type my mother had in her purse, it was a pink sandalwood, my grandmother had an ivory one like it. I carried one of cheap plastic like above in my purse. HERE you can see all the different styles.
21 comments:
As kids we had a linen paper fan that folded between hinged handles. Grandma brought it back from Japan in 1970. I was young when her two bachelor brothers took her to Expo 70 in Japan. They had both spent WWII in the Pacific so it must have been some kind of burying the hatchet for them. Their letters, postcards and souvenirs were our first contact with a truly different culture to the one we were growing up in. I still have some of the silk they brought back. We didn't use fans in NZ.
Yes, we had fans...I remember playing with them more than actually using them.
I remember seeing them but I don't remember ever using them. I do remember we had a battery operated fan on the dashboard of our car in PNG before there was car aircon.
we sadly had no fans, but we think that is a darned good thing to have one in summer ;O)
Hari Om
I never had aircon in OZ, and always opted for fans. I have three and still use them, even here in the Bonny Land - we do get occasions for them! YAM xx
Hello,
Those fans were important to have back in the "old" days.
I am thankful for AC now. Have a great day!
Yes, and I still have them!!! I love the one you found of the garden of Gethsemane (my favorite religious painting!)
I seem to remember having a fan or two but I can't for the life of me recall what they looked like.
I do remember using bulletins to fan ourselves during church though. Thee was one priest who would always say he was going to make his sermon very brief so that we could all get out of there since it was so hot. He was a man of his word too.
Oh how I remember those fans - many, many times I have used them.
My mom went to work say in the 1937's with a fitting dress - gloves - hat - hose and worked with no a/c. She said on breaks they would take their handkerchief and rinse it in water and put it around their necks.
When I was little in GA - we had no air conditioner and I don't ever remember being hot! lol
Rick is having a pacemaker/defibrillator put in today.
I don't think I remember your dad being a full time Baptist minister. Cool.
I still have a little fold up Oriental fan and yes, we had fans! I grew up in Arkansas. Enjoy your day. Happy to see we may need fans on later this week!
I remember those, too! Both from my grandparent's little church in Storden, Minnesota and the oriental-looking ones given as party favors at my friends' birthday parties.
Great glimpses from the past, I'd totally forgotten!
Sandra what an excellent post!! WTG
I remember the fans in the shelves on the back of church pews.
Bravo
Hugs cecilia
Hello Sandra, I have a bit of catching up to do.:=) Love this post! Here in Portugal we have always used fans, and still do. I have an ivory and black lace fan, that used to belong to my mother in law. I also have a few more, given to me by friends and family. It can get very hot when sitting outside, so I carry a little Japanese one on my purse. I have never seen any like the ones in your post, but find it so interesting that they could be worn around the waist. like the one in the picture, and it's such an attractive adornment.
I never had any fans while in church. Where I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area there really wasn't any need for one.
We do have several fans like the church cardboard ones and the pretty bone fan in our tubs for selling on eBay.
I can picture your brother waving his arms during church,,,too funny.
Love this post and telling a bit about your childhood.
This is really what makes blogs so special.
Sue
I'm still in Life Before AC! ;) I have an old paper fan in some drawer, with an Asian-looking print on it. In the summer, I also have an electric fan in every room (as you probably know by now)...
Very interesting. I never saw woman with fans growing up. I know we didn't have air conditioning until I was probably in H.S. I did however buy some hand held fans when I was in Europe.
I remember fans like that! I have a few fans myself....the accordian kind. They still cool just as well as they did then - if there's no available AC!
I sure do remember them. I can still remember not having central AC at home and no AC in schools. That doesn't even seem possible in Florida. I don't know how we were able to stand it!
Oh I remember those church days before air-conditioning. SO much better now that we have a/c
I remember using fans and bulletins for cooling off. You found some beauties! I am such a fan of your fans... I designed one today for my Zazzle store. I posted it on my blog for you to see.
It’s a great photo of this couple and the fan is very interesting, with so many different styles. A cute memory from your church-going, and I can just picture your little brother waving his arm frantically at the preacher. My mother had a wooden one like that with the link you provided. I haven’t thought of that fan from that day to this.
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