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Introduction

What are tiger bells?

Tiger bells are bronze jingle bells. Jingle bells are globularly shaped, hollow and have a metal or stone pellet inside which produces a sound when the bell is shaken. Tiger bells stand apart from other bells because of the peculiar design on the surface: a stylized tiger's head. Very often the hoop is rectangular. On the top half of the bell's surface, one or two Chinese characters and some curls and curved lines are often seen. Detailed information is on the page Various types.

Side view of a tiger bell from S.E. Mindanao (the Philippines)

Intriguing questions

Bells with this design occur all over Asia, from Indonesia to Siberia, Turkey and the Middle East. They come in different sizes and shapes, and there are variations in the design. The face, a tiger's head, is however very consistent. That is why I call these bells tiger bells.

I noticed these bells for the first time in 1974, in Mindanao, Southern Philippines. They were used by several ethnic groups, as dance bells and amulets.

In 1975, in the Musée de l'Homme in Paris (France, now the Musée Quay Branly) I found several bells on a shaman's costume from the Ewenk, an ethnic group in S.E. Siberia. These were almost identical to tiger bells I had seen in the Philippines. I found the enormous distance between the two locations intriguing and decided to try and find out more about the history of these bells: how old they are, how they came to be where they are, where they were produced and where and how they are used. Not being an anthropologist, I had to start from scratch.

A tiger bell on a shaman's costume from S.E. Siberia
Collection Musée de l'Homme, Paris

I started this informal research in 1975. Since then I have found out a number of things. The most important finding is that some groups have bells with this design by the tens and sometimes hundreds while other groups within the same area, sometimes neighbours, do not have one single tiger bell. Examples are several minority groups in S.E. Mindanao, several Dayak groups in Kalimantan, and ethnic groups in S.E. Siberia. This has led to the assumption that trade could not have been the only distribution factor. Trade is too indiscriminate a factor to explain this obvious preference by some groups. Could it be possible that some of these groups already possessed tiger bells before they reached their present location? If so, this could link those groups wìth the tiger bell and those withòut the tiger bell to various migration waves in Asia. It could also mean that tiger bells found with these groups are very old.

A tiger bell on a child's ankle, Bahau Dayak, Kalimantan

Another striking fact is that the bells with the tiger's head design as we see it on the tiger bell from Mindanao (the Philippines), occur at the extremes of the distribution area: Siberia, Insular S.E. Asia, Russia and Turkey. In between we find tiger bells of varying age, the majority possibly younger than those in northern Asia and S.E. Asia, and with many variations in shape, size and design, although all are clearly tiger bells. The tiger bells as we see them in the Philippines and in Siberia have the most consistent and complete design; they are probably the oldest bells as well. Therefore I call this type of tiger bell the classic type.

The function of these classic tiger bells differs per group. They are used as an amulet by shamans from Kalimantan and Siberia. Other uses are: a necklace or a dance attribute. Other types are used as animal bells.

A tiger bell in a wooden yak bell, from Burma

The link with certain ethnic groups could indicate that the tiger bells are old. On the other hand, some of these bells are evidently newer than others. This indicates that these bells must have been produced in large numbers, over hundreds of years. In fact, they are still being produced. There are at least several workshops producing tiger bells of different types: in Peking, in Dehra Dun (Northern India), and in China.

New bells, made in Peking

Finding the answers

While I was collecting information in various museums and institutes, I found that, although many people had seen all kinds of bronze bells, very often they had not recognized the tiger bells as being different from other pellet bells. Those who had noticed the particular design were satisfied with the observation that these bells were apparently of Chinese origin. Yet, the number of observations is vast and there are now reports of tiger bells in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, China, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Outer and Inner Mongolia, S.E Siberia, Tuva, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Bangladesh, India, Northwest Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey, Russia and even Malta. Also, I found that there are distinctly different types of tiger bells, and variations within these types.

A silver prayer mill, from Tibet

Help, from you

Since there is little literature on this subject and since I cannot visit all museums and libraries I had, and still have, to rely on observations by others. All these years, travelling friends, colleagues and museum curators have helped. By presenting my search on the Internet I have reached more people and institutes. With all this help I found more information to support the conclusion: that the presence of the tiger bells makes it possible to link ethnic groups to their movements over the Asian continent. It would also set he age of the oldest tiger bells at around 800 years. This would mean that the tiger bells could be a migration tracer.

In the following pages all information found until now is presented. I recommend the following sequence:

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