TILE SYMBOLISM

Around the world, the colors and designs might differ, but the symbolism of the tiles remain worldwide. 

The tiles come in three categories: suits, honor and flowers. 

Suit Category:  There are three types of suits: bamboos, stones and characters.  For a suit, there are "four sets of nine tiles, with each tile representing a number one through nine... the four No. 1 tiles each have one bamboo stick image, the four No. 2 tiles each contain the image of two bamboo sticks, and so on..." (Jennifer Sellers) For the stone and character suits, it follows the same pattern but uses the imagery of circles instead. 

Honor Category: There are wind and dragon tiles. In the wind tiles, there are four sets of four tiles that each represent the cardinal direction. There are four sets of three tiles in regards of the dragon tiles and those represent the red, green and white dragons. 

Flower Tiles: There is a set of four flowers which individually represent each type of wind. To represent the winds there are the plum, orchid, chrysanthemum and bamboo. The plum symbolizes the east wind; orchid is the south wind; chrysanthemum is the west wind, and bamboo is the north wind. Each flower also represents the seasons which corresponds with the season they bloom in. 

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Overall, there are 144 tiles. Depending on the country you are in there are extra tiles that are added. The symbolism is important in Mahjong because it determines the role you are and the distinct rules that the tiles portray. 

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