Giving and receiving knife as a gift

Sniperboy - there is no law against giving a knife as a gift - BUT to insure that the friendship/relationship is not severed - the supersition where I grew up mandated that a coin be given with the knife...always to be kept between the edge and the friendship - but then what does an Indian know !
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BUT if you give him the knife on a full moon he has to kill a chicken with it and bury it under an oak tree before midnight or terrible things will happen.
 
Sniperboy - there is no law against giving a knife as a gift - BUT to insure that the friendship/relationship is not severed - the supersition where I grew up mandated that a coin be given with the knife...always to be kept between the edge and the friendship - but then what does an Indian know !
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I have to ask for many MANY pennies now sirs
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<A HREF="http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~soo/balisong/balisong.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~soo/balisong/balisong.html
</A> If you play with love you will be heartbroken; if you play with knives you will [bleed]


 
Sniperboy,

When I lived in Taiwan my closest friend was a R.O.C. Air Force officer. On the day he received a promotion to the next higher grade, I presented him with a beautiful antique bayonet in a hand made Teak box. I thought it was a fitting gift for a military person. When he opened it he smiled and then started going through his pockets for a coin. He didn't have one on him. Luckily I had borrowed a 1 NT$ coin from him the day before and placed it in the box under the knife. I didn't know if the Chinese had the "coin for a knife" tradition, but had decided to add the coin just in case.

He got his knife, I got my coin and we remain friends to this day. I don't know if the coin helped, but it sure didn't hurt. Who cares how it started. A little tradition and ceremony is nice sometimes.

Also FYI - many Chinese people feel the same about receiving a clock as a gift. It supposedly means that the giver is anxious to see your time run out.

As for colors: red is for luck, white is for death (ghosts are white) and green is for money. But, don't ever give a Chinese man a green hat. It has a very un-complimentary meaning.

Blackdog

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I once breezed through a book titled Dealing with the Chinese for fun and profit. THe cover had a Chinese businessman shaking the hands of an British. THe British had images of a kung fu master long whiskers and all while the chinese had a caveman image. It had some nice llittle anecdotes in the book.

BTW do not give a bride and groom a knife as a gift or else their great grandmother will get up from hr wheelchair and throw it back at you as if she was 18.

I to love samurai type traditions and think this coin tradition is quite romantic in that sense.

I had the 'penny exchange' tradition in mind earlier but thought i was mistaken so did not post it - I am happy to find that many are familiar with this traditionand I didnt pick it up from thin air.
 
The fact that knives inspire tradition and superstition indicates that for ages, the knife has been a special part of many societies.

I'm happy to "honor" these customs by continuing them.

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AKTI Member #A000832

"That which does not kill me just postpones the inevitable."
 
Life can be easy. Follow the traditions of the person you're giving the knife to.
Just make it a knife from a custom maker. If your friend is offended, don't worry, you will have made a new friend. Every time I deal with a custom knife maker I feel like I have gained a friend.
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Life can be easy. Follow the traditions of the person you're giving the knife to.
Just make it a knife from a custom maker. If your friend is offended, don't worry, you will have made a new friend. Every time I deal with a custom knife maker I feel like I have gained a friend.
smile.gif
 
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