China's myths and legends about dragons.

The dragon gave birth to seven of nine sons.

The armadillo, also known as the Charter, looks like a tiger and is the old seven. It has been litigating all its life, but it is very powerful. The tiger head decoration on the upper part of the prison door is its portrait. Legend has it that armadillos are not only eager for public interests and justice, but also brave in speaking, able to distinguish right from wrong and judge impartially. In addition, its image is majestic, and the prisoners are not only decorated on the prison door, but also squatting on both sides of the official hall. Whenever the yamen chief is in court, there is an image on the title card and the silence card of the chief. It looks around and looks around, maintaining the solemnity and righteousness of the court.

Eight of the nine children born in the Year of the Loong.

The coffin is like a dragon, ranking eighth, and his life is good. The dragons on both sides of the stone tablet are his portraits. China's inscriptions have a long history and rich contents. Some shapes are simple, smooth and bright, and light can be used as a guide. Some are exquisitely carved, with elegant words and vivid pens; There are also some famous poems and stone carvings, which are well-known throughout the ages. But she loves this inscription with artistic brilliance, and she is willing to turn it into a dragon pattern to set off these literary treasures handed down from generation to generation and decorate the pedestal more elegantly and beautifully. They are intertwined with each other and seem to be creeping slowly, which is more spectacular in coordination with the base.

Nine relatives of Longsheng's nine sons

Kiss, also known as tail licking and kissing, is a dragon-shaped spiny-swallowing beast. Laojiu, with a big mouth and a rough mouth, is easy to swallow all his life. The dragon heads at both ends of the temple ridge are his portraits. "Taiping Yu Lan" has the following description: "After the disaster of the Liang Temple in the Han Dynasty, the witch said,' There are fish in the sea, and the tail is like a owl, and the waves are like rain', so it is like a tail and Tired Ofthe Fire is auspicious." The "witch" mentioned in the article is the alchemist and the "fishbone" is the predecessor of kissing. Kissing is water-based and an evil thing to avoid fire.

According to legend, dragons are lewd. Have sex with cows and give birth to Kirin. Have sex with Kun and eat jiaozi.

[Edit this paragraph] Religion and dragons

The belief in the Dragon King in China came into being with the rise of Buddhism, but it is very different from the Dragon King in Indian Buddhism. It can be said that the Dragon King in China is the product of Buddhism and Taoism. Taoism introduced the Buddhist dragon king and reformed it to form its own dragon king system, which is called the heavenly dragon king, the four seas dragon king and the five sides dragon king. Specific examples:

The "Dragon King Product" in The Mantra of Taishang East Shen Yuan lists the "Five Emperors Dragon King" based on orientation, the "Four Seas Dragon King" based on the ocean, 54 dragon king names and 62 dragon king names based on everything in the world.

Four Dragon Kings in Journey to the West (Ao Guang in the East China Sea, Aoqin in the West Sea, Aorun in the South China Sea and Aoshun in the North China Sea)

During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the Dragon Pool in the temple was called and an altar official was set up to worship the Dragon King.

In the second year of Song Huizong Daguan (1 108), all the five dragons in the world were given titles. Qinglong God was named King Ren Guang, Red Dragon God was named King Jiaze, Huanglong God was named King Fu Ying, White Dragon God was named King Yiji and Black Dragon God was named King Lingze.

In the second year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1863), the dragon god of the canal was named "the god of the dragon king who should divide the water", so that the river chief could pay homage at the right time.

Because the dragon is the god of water control, where there is water, there are dragon kings in rivers, lakes and seas and deep ponds and wells, which are responsible for floods and droughts in this area. So there are many temples of Wang Long in the north and south of the Yangtze River, which has become an important part of dragon worship.

Taoism

Taoism, a native religion in China, was formed on the basis of primitive religion, which combined witchcraft, nature worship, animal worship and fairy witchcraft in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and became theoretical and systematic. Early Taoists had realized that dragons came from snakes. There is a cloud in "Yellow and White Articles": "The dragon of the snake is no different from the one he gave birth to. However, the root causes are all caused by natural feelings.

Obeying the emperor in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Daoling advocated the Five Mi Dou Doctrine, with Laozi as the leader and Laozi's Five Thousand Books as the main classic, and gradually formed an artificial religious form with doctrine, doctrine and canon as the main content. Taoism has had an indissoluble bond with dragon worship since its formation. In the pre-Qin period, Lapras's belief in Zhou Zhou's four seas, Lapras's belief in ascending to heaven, and the belief in connecting heaven and man with dragons were all completely inherited by Taoism.

The descendants of Zhang Daoling, the founder of Taoism, all inherited his career and were called "Shi Tian", and were told that they were predestined friends with dragons. According to legend, the third generation surnamed Lu had ten sons, nicknamed "Zhang's Ten Dragons". Another legend is that Zhang Lu's daughter was washing clothes at the foot of the mountain, and suddenly there was white fog around her, so she got pregnant before marriage and committed suicide in shame. Leave last words before dying. Be sure to dissect the body and see what's in it. As a result, there were two twin dragons in the belly, and the maid put them into the Hanshui River. Many later Taoist representatives are said to have a mysterious relationship with dragons, such as Tao Hongjing, a Taoist representative in the Southern Dynasties. It is said that his mother was born a dragon, and he is a kind of dragon.

The most important role of dragons in Taoism is to help Taoists bury themselves and communicate with ghosts and gods. The dragon is considered as one of the "three sedan chairs". The "three sedan chairs" referred to here are dragon sedan chairs, tiger sedan chairs and deer sedan chairs. The sedan chair of Taoism is mainly used as a riding tool for burial. Mr. Zhang Guangzhi thinks: "The owner of No.45 tomb in Puyang is the primitive Taoist or wizard in Yangshao cultural society, and the dragon, tiger and deer made of clam shells are the artistic images of the three sedan chairs he can summon." He linked the clam, dragon, tiger and deer with the three sedan chairs in ancient primitive Taoism, and thought they were related.

Legend has it that Shi Tian and Zhenjun, who have magical powers, can also summon and drive away dragons. Youyang mixed. Strange art said: in a landlord's house called Yun 'an, there is a fifteen-mile dangerous beach by the river, and no one pulls the fiber, so the boat can't cross it. Zhai Ganyou, a thin generation of Shi Tian, saw a business trip, tied an altar, called a dragon, *** 14, and all became old people. Zhai Shitian asked them to level the dangerous beach to make it easier to travel by boat. The dragon was led away, and overnight, the wind and thunder struck, and all the rapids in 14 turned into Pingtan, leaving only one mile. Zhai knew at a glance that the dragon didn't arrive yesterday, so he went to the altar and called him. Three days later, a woman came to Fang. It turned out to be a female dragon. Eloquence: wealthy businessmen cross the river by boat, and the poor in Yunan pull the fiber for them. They always make a living by pulling fibers. If the shoal is gone and the boat is unimpeded, how can we eat and wear it? I would rather take a dangerous beach to support a tracker than use a boat to help a rich businessman. Zhai Shitian nodded after hearing this, so he told Zhu Long to put everything back to its original state.

Buddhism

In Buddhist scriptures, the dragon king Nāgarāja has various names. For example, the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Method says that there are eight dragon kings, one is the dragon king who is difficult to reach, the other is the dragon king who is difficult to reach, the third is the dragon king in Gaha, the fourth is the dragon king in Heji, the fifth is the dragon king in Germany, the sixth is the dragon king in Anaboda, the seventh is the dragon king in Monas, and the eighth is the dragon king in Fu Bo.

The relationship between dragon and Buddhism is still controversial in academic circles. It is said that China's worship of the "Dragon King" was introduced from India with Buddhism. The reason is that there is no "Dragon King" worship in China. Before the Han Dynasty, there were only "dragon gods" but no "dragon kings". After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Buddhist beliefs were introduced into China, and the belief in the Dragon King spread throughout the Middle-earth.

Another way of saying this is that the dragon in Indian Buddhism was handed down from China and recreated by Indians to become the "Dragon King". With the spread of Buddhism to the east, the worship of the Dragon King returned to China. There are seven reasons for this:

First, the dragon culture of the Chinese nation has a long history and has been excavated in an orderly way. The earliest dragon image is a Xinglongwa Culture stone carving dragon found in the Chahai site in Fuxin, Liaoning Province, followed by the clam shell dragon in Xishuipo, Henan Province, attracting worldwide attention. The third piece is a dragon made of pebbles found in Jiaodun site of Zhangcheng Village, Baihu Township, Huangmei County. The fourth is the well-known Inner Mongolia Samsung Tara Yulong and so on. All these fully prove that dragon worship was very common in China as early as six or seven thousand years ago, and that dragon culture is a local culture in China, not a foreign culture.

Secondly, according to the earliest archaeological data of Indian dragons, the murals "The Dragon King and His Family" in the first century BC and "The Dragon Worship Bodhi Tree" before and after the times are all about 5,000 years later than the Shilong in China-Liaoning Tea Sea.

Thirdly, in terms of written records, according to the known historical materials, the earliest written record of dragons in India is The Theory of Wisdom written by Long Shu around the second century A.D., which is only about 1800 years ago. China recorded dragons much earlier than India. There are many "dragons" and some records of dragon worship in Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty, which shows that dragon worship in China was very common 3500 years ago.

Fourthly, since its formation, Dragon Culture has spread rapidly not only at home, but also abroad. Long Dan in Indian Buddhism was handed down from China. There may be two ways of transmission: one is through the southwest of China. According to archaeological data, as early as the Neolithic Age, the stone culture in the Yellow River Basin spread to Tibet and its south. In the early Qin and Han Dynasties, the commodity trade between China and India was frequent. Therefore, it is entirely possible that China's dragon worship was introduced into India in this way. Another way to spread dragon culture is the Silk Road in the Western Regions. The Central Plains Dynasty had contact with the Western Regions as early as 3,000 years ago. It is said that immigrants came to Conglindong at the beginning of the week. After the Shang Dynasty destroyed Xia Hou, some Xia tribes migrated to the northwest. After arriving in Gansu and other places, they continued to migrate to the west and entered the Yanqi country in the western regions. Later, these dragon tribes who moved into Yanqi became the rulers of the country in the Jin Dynasty, and took "Dragon" as their surname. To be sure, they brought their own dragon culture to the western regions.

Fifthly, from the linguistic point of view, there is no special word for "dragon" in Sanskrit in ancient India, and "dragon" and "snake" are represented by the same word. In ancient Indian mythology, lightning was caused by Indra, a great god riding a white elephant and holding a lightning chisel. After the dragon was introduced into India, the dragon god quickly replaced Indra and became the master of wind, rain, thunder and lightning. So the word "snake" also means "dragon".

Sixthly, there are about 20 dragon legends recorded in "The Tale of the Western Regions of Datang", including 5 in the Western Regions, 5 in North India, 0/0 in China and 0/0 in South India. Judging from the contents of the coming year, the dragon legends of Qiuci and Yutian are very similar to those of ancient China. There is a story about Lapras and dragons mating with women, which has nothing to do with Buddhism. However, the myths and legends about the dragon south of Congling and adjacent to India in the Records of the Western Regions of Datang are related to the figures in Buddhism. This also shows that the western regions are a way for the dragon culture to spread to India.

Seventh, primitive dragons in China have many images and attributes of snakes, and so do Indian dragons, which are closely related to snakes. In Buddhist painting and sculpture, the dragon king usually has an unfolded cobra crown with three or five or seven heads behind his head. In addition, Buddhist scriptures often say that "dragons are shaped like snakes", which also shows that Indian dragons have the attributes of snakes.

There are also differences between dragons and dragons in Buddhism, mainly in the following aspects:

First, the biggest difference between dragons and Indian dragons is their different social status. In the dragon, it has the supreme status, especially after the combination of dragon worship and politics, the dragon has become the symbol of the emperor. Indian dragon is a general god, such as the "dragon" in Buddhist scriptures, but it is just an ordinary protector and has no supreme status. In the animal worship in India, the golden winged bird is the highest worship, and the dragon is often the prey of the golden winged bird. In Buddhist scriptures, one of the "three evils" of dragons is the golden winged bird. Legend has it that the golden-winged bird feeds on dragons every day, and it needs a big dragon king and 500 little dragons a day. This shows that the status of the dragon is far below that of the golden-winged bird, while that of China is just the opposite, far above that of the phoenix bird.

Second, the dragon in the ancient legend of China can ascend to heaven and enter the earth to communicate with heaven and man; You can ride for god and shuttle between heaven and earth. For example, the Yellow Emperor ascended to heaven, and Zhuan Xu and He Kai also arrived. The dragon in Indian Buddhism has no such divinity. The great god rides a golden winged bird. For example, Vishnu, an ancient Indian god, often flew on a golden winged bird. Manjushri in Buddhism rides a lion or sits on a white lotus platform; Bodhisattva Samantabhadra rides a six-toothed white elephant or sits on the Qinglintai.

Thirdly, before the introduction of the worship of the Buddhist Dragon King, the dragon in China had no regional characteristics, and was regarded as the dominant rain god, which was widely worshipped by all ethnic groups. The images of dragons are basically the same, but the colors are different, which are divided into five types: blue, red, white, black and yellow. Although Indians regard dragons as their "kings" and "palaces", the local gods of Indian dragons are obvious. There are many kinds of dragon kings, and there are dragon kings and dragon palaces in all waters, which shows that dragons are only the dominant gods in a certain water area.

Fourthly, in India, the Dragon King is a believer, provider or patron of Buddhism, while in China, influenced by Taoism and Confucianism, the belief in the Dragon King has also undergone various changes. Under the influence of Taoism, the Dragon King of China became a subordinate of the Jade Emperor. Under the influence of Confucianism, the legend of the Dragon King in China emphasizes benevolence, faith and righteousness, and emphasizes the love between husband and wife, brothers and father and daughter, which is divided into good and evil. In addition, the dragon kings in all parts of the Central Plains generally have surnames, first names and titles, which are also unique to China.

Judging from the above differences, dragon culture was introduced to India before Qin and Han Dynasties, because in Qin and Han Dynasties, dragons began to combine with emperor worship. Before this, the dragon god naturally dominated the rain, and so did the Indian dragon king, which dominated the sea, lakes and pools. After dragon worship was introduced into India, it was recreated and combined with local culture to form a dragon culture with Indian characteristics.

At the same time, the introduction of Indian Buddhist art had a great influence on the image of the dragon. From the Han and Jin Dynasties to the Tang and Song Dynasties, the image of the dragon was obviously influenced by Buddhist art during its evolution. For example, the dragon on the murals of the Northern Wei Dynasty in Dunhuang is dynamic, but it gives people a sense of tranquility. This shape obviously comes from the flying in contemporary Buddhism. The lion in Indian Buddhism also has a great influence on the evolution of the image of the dragon. The dragon in the Tang and Song Dynasties absorbed the image of the lion. The head is round and plump, the back of the head is covered with shackles, and the nose is similar to a lion's nose. The dragon on the mural of Nantang Tomb in Jiangning, Jiangxi Province looks like a lion not only in the head, but also in the whole body. The dragon absorbs the image of a lion mainly to show its great power and increase its magical power.

Origin of Dragon Ball

1. Pearl. We know that some mollusks will form round particles in their shells in water, which are loved by people because of their bright luster, so they are called pearls. Since animals in the water can give birth to pearls, as the dragon of the aquarium, it is natural to have pearls and give birth to jujubes, which should be a basic idea of the Dragon Ball myth.

It comes from the saying that dragons originated from crocodiles and snakes. Because crocodiles and snakes lay eggs, the ancients may regard crocodile eggs and snake eggs as a kind of "bead". If the image of the dragon comes from reptiles and amphibians such as crocodiles and snakes, then the dragon ball is the dragon egg, and the dragon ball is the dragon play "egg", which shows that the dragon is a sacred object and cares for life, and expresses the ancient people's understanding and understanding of the endless life phenomenon. The folklore of "swallowing pearls to turn dragons into dragons" provides a footnote for this view: when a teenager mows grass (or draws water), he gets a treasure, puts it in a rice jar to increase rice, and puts it in a till to make money. When a rich man found out, he brought people to rob pearls. The teenager put the beads in his mouth in a hurry, but accidentally swallowed them. So I longed for water, and when the water in the jar dried up, I went to drink river water, river water. Drinking and drinking, his head has horns, his eyes protrude outward, and his body has scales, turning into a dragon. Such legends are widely circulated in Sichuan, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other places, revealing the preciousness of "pearls" and the relationship between pearls and dragon life.

3. the sun. Dragons play with bead patterns, especially the two dragons play with bead patterns. There are many flames rising on the beads and turbulent sea water below, which can be understood as fireballs jumping out of the sea. This has to be reminiscent of the scene where the sun rises at sea level, so "fireball going out to sea" can be understood as "the sun going out to sea". Four gods in the eyes of the ancients: Oriental Dragon, Western White Tiger, South Suzaku and North Xuanwu. The sun rises in the east, and the dragon is a sacred object representing the east. In this way, dragon playing with beads is the sun worship, which is the fusion of sun worship and dragon worship.

Dragons are divided into male and female, which is also the reason why Erlong plays with more bead patterns. If a pearl lays an egg, it means that both parents care about and care for the child; If pearls are the solution of the sun, then it is the male dragon and the female dragon that greet the rising sun and let the bright sunshine shine on the earth. Furthermore, the two dragons are symmetrical, the dragons are long, the beads are round and smooth, and there is also a sense of composition.

4. Dragon Ball comes from the treasure of Buddhism. In Buddhism, there is a treasure called Manizu, also called Ruyi Pearl. The image of dragon playing beads appeared only after Buddhism spread to the east. Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were often jade or coin patterns between symmetrical Ssangyong. After the Tang and Song Dynasties in China, the appearance of dragon playing with pearls was closely related to Buddhism.

5. "Dragon Ball" tells in Japanese cartoons that there are seven objects named "Dragon Ball" in the world, and each dragon ball has one to seven five-pointed stars, which are scattered all over the world. As long as you collect seven dragon balls, you can summon them and make a wish on them, and you can realize any wish. After the dragon realizes its wish, the dragon ball will fly away automatically … and become a stone, and it will be realized one year later.

[Edit this paragraph] Dragon culture

nature

Loong originated from primitive totem culture, but its essence and mainstream cannot be simply attributed to primitive totem culture. From the four aspects of "background of the times-specific content-cultural significance-social function", China's dragon capital is significantly different from the original totem, thus showing the following essential characteristics:

1. From totem, beyond totem.

China's dragon culture is not only a few relics in modern China, but also maintains a strong vitality, abandoning the negative factors of feudalism, mysticism and absolutism. Although Dragon Culture can't play a leading role and mainstream cultural role in the history of national unity and national rejuvenation, it still has a strong appeal, cohesion and centripetal force to the Chinese nation.

2. Not worship in kind, but cultural creation.

Totem culture is essentially the clan culture of primitive society, and the dragon in China, the primitive dragon, was born around 3000 BC, which is the disintegration period of primitive society in China, the origin period of Chinese civilization, and later the dragon of Chinese civilization in China. Although the prototype can be found in nature, it is not an existing thing in nature in essence, but a cultural creation and cultural symbol based on national cultural concepts. The formative period of the times.

purpose

China's dragon, in the unique form of oriental mysticism, contains the unique basic concepts of China people and China culture through complex and changeable artistic modeling:

On the first level, from the image of the dragon, the concept of the dragon contains four most important concepts of China people, namely, the world view of the unity of man and nature; The interactive subject view of benevolent and loving; The development view of yin-yang intercourse; The inclusive view of multiculturalism.

On the second level, the concept of dragon, behind the image of dragon and the concept of dragon, contains the ideal goals and values of China people in dealing with the four major relationships, and pursues the harmony of harmony between man and nature, interpersonal relationship, contradictory relationship between Yin and Yang and multicultural relationship.

On the third level, the dragon spirit is pluralistic and integrated, and the basic spirit of China culture is comprehensive and innovative, which is the deepest cultural connotation of dragon image and dragon culture. Wang Dong believes that exploring the deep connotation of dragon culture will help solve some civilized conflicts in the contemporary world.

Dragon soul

The foot of the dragon is the land of Kyushu, Long Zhixin is the hope of the nation, dragon soul is the chapter of China, the bone of the dragon and the backbone of China! The surging Yellow River and the rolling Yangtze River are the flowing dragon blood; Xia, Shang, Zhou and Han Dynasties, Wei, Jin, Sui and Tang Dynasties are all wings of dragons. All corners of the country, three mountains and five mountains, a million miles of Fiona Fang splendid side; After Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the country has been established for 5,000 years ... A long civilization, fascinating and beautiful legends, sad and sentimental, immortal spirit, deep and tragic, unbeaten fighting spirit, passionate! Pangu opened the sky, Nu Wa became pregnant, the descendants of the dragon grew up from generation to generation, Hou Yi shot the sun, Kuafu chased the sun, and the descendants of the dragon were immortal! The 800-mile Great Wall can't stop Jiang Meng, and it can't stop the heart. Thousands of feet Tianhe, separated by Cowherd and Wan Ren, is strong! The touching story comes from a simple and kind nation, a country without shame and etiquette, a national tradition, all moderate and frugal, and the national character has always been fearless! Dragon's hometown, the spirit of the dragon is widely circulated, and the spirit of the dragon and its descendants are cast on it-after thousands of years of vicissitudes, no one will forget our ancestor, Yan Huang, even if it is sailing for hundreds of thousands of miles! The morning breeze is cool, the night rain is xiaoxiang, and the dragon is exquisitely carved. The winter snow is warm, the spring thunder is bright, and the dragon's bearing shines on the world! After countless rain, snow, wind and frost, and constantly writing inspiring chapters, the dragon held its head high at the new dawn and the bell of the century rang for it!

Wang Maocai, a villager from Xiangboyi Village, went to the field early and picked up a child at the edge of the field. He is four or five years old, handsome and laughing. I am well informed when I am at home. Four or five years later, a monk came to his house, and when he saw it, he fled without a trace. The monk told the villagers, "This son is one of the 500 little dragons in Huashan Lake. He sneaked here." Then I took out a bowl and filled it with water. A small white snake swam in and left the sleeve bowl.

Second:

There is a dragon falling into the village in the north straight boundary, and his behavior is heavy and clumsy, and he enters the gentleman's house. The door can only hold the body and plug it in. The family ran away. Climbing the stairs was noisy and was shelled. The dragon came out. The water outside the door is too shallow. The dragon went in, turned to one side, covered in mud, and pranced down. After three days in a clay pot, flies gather scales. Suddenly it rained heavily, but it flew away with a bang.

Fang Sheng and his friends went to Niu Shan to visit temples. Suddenly, a yellow brick fell from the rafter, and a small snake was put on the rafter and cut like a bug. Suddenly spinning like a finger, another week like a belt. * * * surprised, known as the dragon, group trend. Halfway up the mountain, I heard a thunderbolt in the temple and the sky was overcast. A dragon is correcting it, but it won't move.

Zhangqiu Xiaoxiang Gongzhuang, where people and women are suitable for the wild, is windy and dusty. I felt my eyes narrowed, I entered the wheat awn, rubbed it, blew it, and it didn't work. When you look at your face, your eyes are intact, but there is a red line winding inside the meat. Or: "This is a dragon thorn." Women are still afraid of death. After more than three months, it rained cats and dogs, and suddenly there was a loud clang, and the corner of my eye cracked, and the woman suffered a lot.

[Edit this paragraph] The dragon is traveling westward.

Dragons in the west are generally referred to as dragons now, but long ago, they were not. A branch of Semite founded Judaism at that time. Some people think that Seraphim in Judaism is the dragon that embodies the power of justice.

In western civilization, the concept of dragon closest to China in all aspects, essence, meaning and characteristics is Seraphim. Seraphim's position, function and significance in western mythology and religion are not only the most consistent with China protodragon in China mythology and religion, but also the etymological meaning of Seraphim in ancient Hebrew is the same as China protodragon. The dragon originated in China is a kind of snake. Seraphim is a python in ancient Hebrew, and it is the plural of Seraphim. It was also said that a suffix with the meaning of "flame" or "burning" was added. In early ancient Hebrew, python was often used to represent dragons because there was no word "dragon". The Bible shows that such a python has limbs. Some historical materials of Hebrew mythology also indirectly indicate that Seraphim's early image is closer to the dragon in Buron, China. The python with six limbs and six wings composed of fire is very similar to Ying Long in China's early mythology, while Seraphim is a familiar concept to westerners, but few people know Seraphim's true colors now. Now Seraphim in religious portraits and sculptures is human.

Seraphim is now generally translated as blazing angel, but in Enoch, Seraphim means python. In the early western civilization, the concepts of dragon and snake were often confused, but some people thought that it was blasphemy to understand the blazing angel as a python, and the religious issues involved were not explained.

Dragons appeared much later than Seraphim. They are the object of Celtic worship and their status is sacred. In the early Middle Ages, Vikings looking for a new channel in the Atlantic carved the bow of their pirate ship into a dragon, hoping that the dragon would give them infinite power.

With the birth of Christianity, the fate of dragons has undergone earth-shaking changes, and dragons have become synonymous with Satan. The birth of a new religion will inevitably conflict with the old religion. Just like the Aryans invaded India, they "degraded" Asura, who was worshipped by the aborigines, into a demon.

Dragon, regarded as the symbol of the devil in Christianity, originated from Mesopotamian mythology. In Mesopotamian mythology, the dragon is "a terrible life in the ocean, and its fate is to hurt people and be destroyed by God." Marduk's hand-held Amato in Babylonian mythology and Ilyushankas in Hittite mythology are all examples. Jews living near Mesopotamia were also influenced by it and inherited this idea. The dragon gradually became the symbol of the devil in Judaism and Christianity.

descendants of the dragon

In the impression of most people, "descendants of the dragon" is almost synonymous with China people, but is it true that only China people in the world are called "descendants of the dragon"? Let's go to Europe to meet other "descendants of the dragon".

Celtic

The red dragon is a symbol of the Celtic nation. The picture shows the Welsh flag.

The Celts of Red Dragon Banner in Wales are one of the oldest inhabitants in Europe, with a history of nearly 4,000 years, which once spread all over Central and Western Europe. Today, their descendants are mainly distributed in Wales in the southwest of England and parts of Ireland in the north.

We are familiar with many fantasy stories set in the Middle Ages of Europe, such as Long Xiang, mage practice, knight galloping and so on. Most of the typical scenes in D come from Celtic myths and legends. Dragons play an important role in Celtic culture. In fact, the Celts worship the dragon totem as much as China. Their patron saint is called Y Ddraig Goch, pronounced as [Raigox], which means red dragon and has always been a symbol of this nation. The film Long Zhixin is an image of Zhuo Ke based on Celtic mythology. Now, the common image of the European dragon comes from the Celtic red dragon. Although it is quite different from the dragon in China, in the eyes of the Celts and their descendants, its significance is no different from that of the dragon to the people of China.

The red dragon is not only printed on the national flag of Wales today, but also often printed on local handicrafts, costumes, buildings, cars and even cups, toothpaste, lighters and other daily necessities in Wales. Welsh people are proud to be called "descendants of the red dragon", and the red dragon pattern that can be seen everywhere has become a landscape there.