Dragons Past and Present

The dragon is a symbolic creature that appears throughout time and in most cultures all over the world. It represents many things, depending on the cultural association. For instance the red dragon on the Welsh flag (above) stood for the beleagured Britons who held back the Saxons (represented by the white dragon). The dragon appears repeatedly in British heraldry and may have originated, in this form, from the Roman Cavalry standards.

Dragons appear in some of the oldest European stories from many countries. In England, one of the most famous of these is "Beowulf", where the monster guards a cave and must be overcome by the hero. This is a common role for the dragon that frequently protects treasure and must be defeated in order for the treasure to be retrieved.

There has been much speculation about the origin of this mythological creature. In "Instinct for Dragons" David Jones claims that the dragon represents an amalgam of three predators highly feared by primitive people - the feline, the serpent and the predatory bird. He explains that the dragon was vilified further by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages and associated with the evil serpent of the Garden of Eden. The dragon slayer was thus, often a saint (Saint George is and example). In Western culture then, the dragon became a feared creature. In England powerful leaders and Kings were "dragon" or "pendragon" ; the Vikings, bringing destruction to the lands they conquered, carved fearsome dragons into the front of their ships; and Marco Polo seems to have named every new and strange creature that he encountered on his wanderings, after the dragon.

Although in Western culture the dragon was represented as a fiery venomous and fearsome animal, mostly evil and sometimes magic, it also had some good qualities. It was, for instance, usually cunningly intelligent and could talk.

In China however, the dragon has always symbolized potent and special powers which are predominantly good. The creature has control over water, rainfall, hurricane and floods and represents power, strength and good luck. Outstanding and talented people are often compared to dragons and, historically, the dragon was the emblem for the emperor of China. The image however, is benevolent and not warlike.

The dragon, in China, is a specially protected symbol and it is taboo to show its destruction. Nike ran an advertisment showing basketball star Le Bron James slaying a dragon which was immediately banned by the Chinese government. The dragon is also a central figure in the celebrations for Chinese New Year and leads the parade into a fortunate future.

So the dragon continues as a potent emblem into our own time. In modern stories it seems to morph into an affectionate, magical and even playful creature that has been much misunderstood.

The multifaceted dragon endures still as a symbol of our rapidly changing world standing for both power and intelligence and guarding for us the treasure of the future.