Project 365/216 and 217

Meant to use this one earlier, but then something else captured my eye, and I forgot this picture was in the files.  My poor hedges had gotten woolly.

Since we're on the subject of trimming.....

I got my hair cut today, and decided to get a picture of the barber pole for my P-365 picture today.  But behold, my barber has no pole!  The posts on the corner of his storefront are painted in the familiar white-red-blue stripes of the profession, but there's no traditional barber pole. 

Google to the rescue!

So, since I "borrowed" today's picture instead of taking it myself, I figured I could provide a bit of information on the history of the barber pole and its colors:

The origin of the red and white barber pole is associated with the service of bloodletting and was historically a representation of bloody bandages wrapped around a pole. During medieval times, barbers performed surgery on customers, as well as tooth extractions. The original pole had a brass basin at the top (representing the vessel in which leeches were kept) and bottom (representing the basin that received the blood). The pole itself represents the staff that the patient gripped during the procedure to encourage blood flow.

The red and white stripes symbolize the bandages used during the procedure: red for the blood-stained and white for the clean bandages. Originally, these bandages were hung on the pole to dry after washing. As the bandages blew in the wind, they would twist together to form the spiral pattern similar to the stripes in the modern-day barber pole. The barber pole became emblematic of the barber/surgeon's profession. Later, the cloths were replaced by a painted wooden pole of red and white stripes.

The red, white and blue format in the United States may be an homage to the colors of the flag.