Why did ancient people use porcelain pillows? Don't their brains hurt?

Pillows have always been daily necessities, and our pillows now are completely different from those of some unearthed cultural relics we can see. Now our pillows are basically soft and comfortable. But we can see that ancient people's "jade pillows" and "porcelain pillows" were all made of hard objects. Just looking at them will give you a headache. Won't the ancients be uncomfortable with these pillows? Why did the ancients use pillows like this?

1. The origin of "pillow"

The word pillow is said to have been invented by Cao Cao. At that time, he was sleepy when reading, so he fell asleep with a wooden box on his pillow and slept soundly. According to the shape of the wooden box, the book boy next to him made a cushion out of soft objects and gave it to Cao Cao, who named it "pillow". Later, things like pillows were widely used in people's daily life. However, this is only a legend. The name pillow may have been created by Cao Cao, but this thing is not.

The earliest record of using pillows in world history is around 7000 BC, which was used by Mesopotamian civilization. In China, although there is no exact record of the earliest appearance of pillows or cultural relics, pillows have been very beautiful objects since the Warring States Period. There are many kinds of pillows, except ordinary ones. There are also some special functions, such as "medicine pillow", which is filled with some medicine and can be used to treat diseases while sleeping.

2. Porcelain pillow

Say "porcelain pillow" again As the name implies, it is a porcelain pillow. In fact, in ancient China, the earliest pillows were made of some natural stones, and later they were extended to other materials, among which porcelain was the most widely used. Originated in the Sui Dynasty, it reached its peak in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and it was not until better materials appeared in the Ming and Qing Dynasties that porcelain pillows were gradually replaced. Nature is the result of being replaced, gradually fading out of history, few and far between.

And those porcelain pillows, like many porcelains, also have some painted patterns and patterns, some conventional shapes with different pictures on them, in addition, there are many unconventional shapes, that is, pillows with more diverse shapes, such as animal modeling, architectural modeling, character modeling and so on. These pillows are not only the appearance, but also many decorative patterns are drawn on them according to their shapes. In fact, it seems that the ancients' pursuit of life is really higher than that of modern people.

3. Why use a hard pillow?

However, porcelain pillows, no matter how beautiful, are hard objects. Did the ancients really feel no headache when they used it? Porcelain pillows were originally used as funerary objects, and then gradually extended to people's daily lives. The reason why it can be used is actually inseparable from the ancient habit of using bedding. Many ancient bedding are far harder than what we use now, such as bed boards. Harder bedding is actually more beneficial to the human body. The porcelain pillow, "Compendium of Materia Medica" also describes its efficacy, "clearing heart and improving eyesight".

Porcelain pillows are not only practical, but also ornamental. After all, those porcelain pillows made by a bunch of techniques are just a kind of porcelain that has been passed down to this day. The ancients also regarded them as handicrafts, which could be used and looked at. It is indeed the crystallization of ancient wisdom.