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The crocodile: leviathan or dragon?
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| July 22, 2002. |
Ever since ancient times, the crocodile
has fascinated Native Americans as well as other world
cultures, so much so that they have deemed it to be
a representative of the magical world of spirits.
As a result of the Bible story that
alludes to a being called Leviathan, whose name translated
from the ancient Hebrew means "towards the wind",
it is believed that the crocodile is related to Israelite
mythology, that in turn took it from the primordial
dragon in Canaanite mythology, the same that may have
influenced the Babylonian myth of creation according
to which the world was created from God's victory over
the serpent or the dragon. Although it was thought for
the longest time that the Leviathan described in the
Book of Job was a great crocodile or dragon, a conclusion
was finally reached that the significance of the word
was "whale", but perhaps more so in a poetic
sense than a real one.
In medieval Europe, the crocodile
was associated with the dragon because of its long body
and tail. In some cases, the dragon was linked to negative
aspects while in others it was with the positive ones.
It could act as guardian of mystic treasures or wisdom
just as it could be the being that incarnated Beelzebub,
who was always vanquished by some hero or saint like
Apollo, Saint Michael or Saint George. On the other
hand, the person who used parts of the dragon's body
was endowed with special powers derived from the same
beast, like benevolence, grace and invincibility. In
fact, it was said that a shield made with the scales
of a dragon would protect the valiant knight efficiently
against the hellfire the fabulous animal would spew
from his mouth.
There is no doubt that in China
and Japan the dragon is one of the icons most often
related to crocodiles. In their mythological tales,
the dragon represents the supreme spiritual power and
is the most ancient and omnipresent symbol in Oriental
art. Dragons represent terrestrial and celestial power,
knowledge and strength. They live in the water and bring
good health and luck and, according to Chinese beliefs,
they bring rain for the harvests. The dragons of their
traditional New Year celebrations repel the evil spirits
that may cause them to lose the incoming year. The five-claw
dragon became the emblem of Imperial China, the one
with four is the common dragon and the Japanese one
has only three claws on each foot. The dragon is the
"Lord of all the scaly reptiles."
To ancient Egyptians, the crocodile
was associated with fury and ferociousness (various
mythologies commonly attributed this same meaning to
the insatiable female creative force of the Earth.)
On occasion, the destructive and violent power is symbolized
as a mother crocodile swallowing her young. Inherent
to such beliefs was the idea that reptiles continued
to live even after they died.
The crocodile lives mainly in the
water, the same element that we find associated with
"The Great Mother" in various cultures, the
female principle of life, and consequently of birth.
It is not for nothing that Judeo-Christian religions
have used baptism by water to symbolize the rebirth
of an individual to a new life, dedicated to following
the guiding principles of the cult in question.
In essence, as you can see, the
crocodile reflects the concepts of both destruction
and creation, but more so tose related to the process
of creation. Moreover, the fact that the animal patrols
the limits of the aquatic and terrestrial environments
helps when it is considered to be endowed with the power
to move between the world of the living and that of
the dead - the power to give life through birth and
death by means of its lethal jaws.
cupul@pvmirror.com
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