Sedan chair

In the middle of the night, I found myself wondering what the conveyances like those depicted are called. A little searching this morning revealed that this form of human-powered transport is known as a litter. Litters are chairs or platforms, sometimes enclosed, suspended on shafts and carried by 2 or more men. But because they are features of many different cultures, they have many different names:

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sedan chair The idea of the litter was imported from Mexico, Peru, and India by explorers and colonists to France, Spain, and England. They met instant success in the messy streets of Rome and the narrow streets of London. They transported the King of England; the paying public of England, Scotland, and Italy; the well-appointed residents of London; and the visitors to Bath in the 17th and 18th centuries, finally giving way to the hackney carriage in the early 19th c.

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Sedia gestatoria is a richly adorned portable throne used for at least 1,000 years to transport Roman Catholic popes to their coronation, to special ceremonies in the basilicas, or to appearances before the public. It consists of a silk-covered chair supported by 2 poles that is carried on the shoulders of 12 men in red uniforms. Pope John Paul II refused to use it and Benedict XVI has not restored its use, so the Sedia gestatoria has been replaced in modern times by the "popemobile."

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palanquin or palkhi These covered sedan chairs were used in southeast Asia from 250 B.C. and only began to fall out of favor when rickshaws were introduced in the 1930s. In Japan, they were used by the nobility and warrior classes and were an important means of transportation when horses were marshalled for other labor. Palanquins can still be hired in remote areas of Asia to carry patrons up steep slopes.

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jiao In China, wooden or bamboo litters were used by commoners (minjiao) and members of the Mandarin class (guanjiao). A jianyu, or lacquered and gilded shoulder carriage, was used by brides and equipped with red silk curtains to shield them from view. In Hong Kong, private litters were used by the wealthy and licensed litters used to be the only form of public transportation. They can still be found in Chinese mountain resorts where they are used to take guests to otherwise inaccessible locations.

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jempana In traditional Javanese society, wicker palanquins could be hired by paying customers, but the guilded jempana was reserved for nobility, with the number of bearers indicating status. They were used to carry royalty, flanked by their bodyguards, in military procession. And in Hindu culture today in Bali, they are used to transport the dead to their pyres and cremated with them.

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gama In Korea, these were used to convey royalty, aristocrats, and government officials - whose rank was indicated by one of six styles. In traditional weddings, bride and groom are still carried to the ceremony in separate gamas.

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lectica In ancient Rome, members of the royal family and dignitaries who were not mounted on horseback were carried on litters called lectica.

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Litters were favored by pharaohs of ancient Egypt and by wealthy American colonists: Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was said to have used one regularly.