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Dragons and Serpents
Introduction
Are dragons and serpents merely
fabrications of the boundless human imagination, or do they represent
something of great spiritual significance for all cultures?
Many are the fabulous beasts created in the stories by human kind. For
thousands of years, we have told of fantastic creatures of supernatural
powers, some of the forces of good and others of the forces of evil. But
of all these sensational monsters, none has slithered into as many of
man's legends than dragons and serpents.
Dragons and serpents vary in description according to culture, although
many striking features are retained throughout the written, oral and
artistic traditions of the world. They are usually depicted as gigantic
snake-like reptiles, with a long, sinuous body armoured in either green,
blue or red scales. The head is typically massive, with a broad mouth full
of enormous, sharp teeth and a long, forked tongue. The snout is long and
sometimes horned; the eyes are usually very large and cold. Often, these
creatures possess long ears and a frilled neck, resembling either a crest
of feathers or webbed skin. The body itself is usually decorated with an
array of small, triangular spines extending from the head down the back to
the long, barbed tail. Dragons normally posses four, short limbs with long
claws, although some serpents have no legs at all. In some cultures,
dragons are also equipped with enormous, bat-like wings; in others, they
have the ability to breathe fire. They can live in mountains, caves, seas,
lakes and even the heavens.
The Dragon of the Orient
Just as their appearances differ from culture to culture, dragons and
serpents represent many contrasting ideas for different groups of people.
Dragons are perhaps most well recognised in Chinese tradition. The Chinese
recognised the dragon as one of the four sacred creatures to contain all
elements of yin and yang - dark and light - in addition to the Phoenix,
the Unicorn and the Turtle. The Chief of all scaly creatures, the dragon
symbolised wisdom, strength, goodness and the element Water. In China,
dragons were often drawn with whiskers and antlers on their heads. When
depicted with five claws, it represented the Emperor and was known as the
Imperial Dragon. In some traditions, dragons were attributed to
controlling the weather, and ritual dances were performed to encourage the
dragon to send down the rains.
The Japanese had a similar belief in dragons to the Chinese. Their
traditional religion, Shinto, also tells of kingdom of serpent people
under the sea, where the Dragon King, Ryu-wo, ruled in a spectacular
palace of crystal and coral. He was said to have a human body, and a
serpent entwined in his crown. Known for his nobility and wisdom, Ryu-wo
was a guardian of the Shinto faith. People who have fallen into the sea
are said to have lived on in the kingdom of Ryu-wo.
Japanese legends also tell of another serpent king, who, unlike Ryu-wo,
possessed scales and a flicking tongue. He was a bringer of destruction
and chaos, who would invade villages and devour innocent children. He was
only hindered by the goddess of love, Benten, who was charmed by his words
of love. After making him promise to end his wrath against mankind, she
agreed to marry him. On the Pacific coast of Japan, a great temple was
built at Kamakura to commemorate the occasion.
For Buddhists and Taoists of China and Japan, dragon sculptures were often
used to decorate the exterior of temples. They represented the many
obstacles that humans face throughout life that must first be overcome
before true happiness and inner peace, or enlightenment, can be attained.
The European Dragon
Dragons and serpents are often viewed as guardians of sacred places and
objects. The ancient Greeks and Romans, who revered dragons for their
wisdom but feared them for their tremendous powers, both shared this
belief. One of the twelve tasks of the legendary hero Hercules (or
Heracles) had to perform was to pick three golden apples from a sacred
tree, protected by a fearsome dragon or Serpent. A similar story tells of
a nymph named Psyche, who was ordered by the goddess Venus to fetch sacred
water from mountain stream guarded by dragons.
One of the most feared monsters of the Greeks and Romans was the Hydra, a
dragon with multiple heads and poisonous breath. Another task of Hercules
was to slay a Hydra which inhabited a dangerous marsh. However, every time
Hercules cut off one of the heads of the beast, more grew back in place.
Only by burning the necks with fire, and crushing the body with a boulder,
was Hercules able to defeat the Hydra.
Serpents and dragons are abound in Mediterranean mythology. Legend speaks
of a brave knight known as de Gozon, who sought to slay a fearsome dragon
which roamed the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean. This dragon had
scales which were as tough as steel, and were yellow and red in colour. It
flew with two great blue wings and breathed poison. However, de Gozon
discovered the creature's one weak spot - its neck, which was not
protected with scales. After a great battle, de Gozon stabbed the dragon
in its neck and ended the terror of the inhabitants of the island.
Throughout Europe, tales of dragons and serpents grew far and wide. Most
of these stories were written in Medieval times, when dragons and serpents
were said to live in caves or lakes where they hoarded huge riches.
Occasionally, the monsters would wander into villages, and cause great
destruction and death. This lead to many brave knights attempting to hunt
down and slay dragons, as recounted in many medieval writings. In some
cases, the knights were successful, but in others they were defeated by
the dragon's immense power
The most terrifying monster of all in European mythology was not, however,
the great fire-breathing dragon but a tiny black serpent called the
basilisk. Only one foot long and crowned with a white crest, the basilisk,
also known as the cockatrice since it hatched from a cockerel's egg, was
so deadly that the poison if its spit could split rocks in two, and it
could kill a man merely by looking at him. The only things which could
kill a basilisk were weasels, which overpowered the monster with their
powerful jaws and smell, and crystals. A man could look at a basilisk
through the crystal, and the creature's own deadly power would be
reflected back, killing it instantly.
We do, however, occasionally read of friendly dragons in European myths.
The town of Lucerne in Switzerland was famed for its winged dragons which
were said to look like flying crocodiles. A tale is told there of a man
who once fell into an underground cave from which he could not escape. To
his horror, he realised that this was the home of two dragons. However,
the dragons did not see this strange visitor as an intruder or as food;
instead, they were intrigued, and rubbed themselves against his body, like
domestic cats. The man lived in the cave for five months, so the legend
says, living on nothing but a trickle of water which oozed through the
rocks. When the spring came, the dragons decided to leave their home, and
took off into the air. The man realised that this was his only chance to
escape, and, clasped to the tail of one of the creatures, let himself be
carried out of the cave. Sadly, the legend goes on to tell us that he had
been without food for too long, and he died shortly after returning to his
home village.
The Celtic peoples often showed great reverence for dragons and serpents,
depicting them by the side of their gods. They came to represent wisdom
and nobility, in a similar way to the dragons of the Orient. Even today,
the red dragon can still be seen on the national flag of Wales, one claw
raised as a warning of its power and its neck arched in readiness. This
respect clashed with the beliefs of the new religion, Christianity.
According to both Christian and Jewish texts, dragons and serpents were
incarnations of evil. The dragon was said to bring destruction during the
end of the world, as read in the Revelations, while the serpent was blamed
for bringing sin to man kind by tempting Eve into eating the forbidden
fruit of the Garden of Eden. The legend of St. George, in which he defeats
a dragon, perhaps represents Christianity overpowering the Celtic
religion. The image St. George crushing a struggling serpent or dragon
under his feet was widely used in Christian art, and again may symbolise
Christianity's dominance over paganism.
Sacred Serpents
Stories are told of serpents so unimaginably vast that they encircled the
world itself! Jormungand the Midgard Serpent was one such a monster, said
by the Norse cultures such as the Vikings to live deep under the sea. The
West African Fon tribe speak of Aido-Hwedo the Rainbow Serpent, who lies
coiled in the ocean under the land to prevent it from sinking. In both
cultures, the serpent plays an important part at the end of the world.
The most reverential of cultures towards snakes were the Aztecs of
pre-Columbia. One of their principal gods was the Feathered Serpent,
Quetzalcoatl. One of the most enigmatic and fascinating figures in ancient
religion and mythology, Quetzalcoatl was most often portrayed as a green
serpent with a feather-crested head, similar in many ways to the Chinese
dragon. He came to represent water, rain, the wind, human sustenance,
penitent, self-sacrifice, re-birth, the morning star of Venus and
butterflies. Unlike most other Aztec deities, Quetzalcoatl was said to
oppose all forms of sacrifice apart from self-bleeding. However, his
brother Tezcatlipoca was jealous of the god's purity and goodness, and
cast an evil spell to transform Quetzalcoatl into a pale-skinned, bearded
human. Shortly afterward, Quetzalcoatl sacrificed himself in order to
return again, with the bones from the Underworld which would be made into
human beings. Quetzalcoatl taught his creation all he knew, and bestowed
gifts of fire and maize. He could also heal the sick. Once satisfied,
Quetzalcoatl was said to have sailed into the West on a raft of serpents,
with the promise that he would one day return.
Myths involving sea serpents are numerous, and are found throughout the
oceans of the world. These creatures, thought to be bigger than any boat,
were reported to sink ships sailing into unknown waters and consume
everyone on board. Many historical maps show sea serpents in areas of the
ocean where they were thought to dwell. Even in modern times there have
been a high number of reported sea serpents. This is also true of the
serpentine monsters thought to dwell in many lakes all over the world. The
most famous of these is the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, whose immense
body is usually seen as three humps above the surface of the water.
Similar lake serpents have been reported in every continent of the world,
excluding Antarctica.
So why have so many different cultures on Earth told stories of these
giant, wonderful reptiles?
A common explanation is that the ancient peoples were so inspired by the
deadliness and beauty of reptiles such as snakes, lizards and crocodiles,
they began to imagine them as giant, magical beings with supernatural
powers. Indeed, we have named several species of reptile with their
mythological persona in mind: the Komodo Dragon, the Bearded Dragon, the
Water Dragon and the Flying Dragon are all living lizards who bare
dragon-like characteristics. But all of these creatures are much smaller
than the dragons of legend - even the largest lizard, the Komodo Dragon,
only measures a few metres in length. Additionally, these "dragons" have a
very restricted habitat, many only inhabiting remote islands or forests.
They cannot be fully responsible for spawning the vast widespread beliefs
in dragons and serpents.
It is widely suggested that Sea Serpents and Lake Serpents are just
ordinary aquatic animals, such as eels, whales, seals or sharks. However,
this theory also has a severe short-coming, in that a large majority of
precise descriptions of aquatic serpents do not resemble any of these
creatures in shape, behaviour or movement. It must also be noted that
there are far more reported observations of sea serpents than there are of
known existing sea animals, like beaked whales and giant squid.
Dragons and serpents have come to represent a huge variety of different
ideas, but perhaps the one prevailing symbolism that unites them all is
man's fascination and fear of the unknown. As long as mankind is plagued
by mystery, our lakes, skies, seas and even our souls will never be freed
from the clutches of dragons and serpents.
Written by Megan Balanck
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